The insertion of French into Lingala speech in Kinshasa: the case of everyday lexicon of scientific origin

Abstract

This article addresses the heterogeneity of Lingala speech from two perspectives. The macrosociolinguistic perspective explains the presence of French scientific lexicon by the lack of linguistic planning for Lingala and by the official and educational status of French in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The morphosyntactic perspective analyzes French elements in their insertion points within Lingala speech.