The Mangbetu–Asoa or Mangbetu languages of the Central Sudanic language family are a cluster of closely related languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The languages are Mangbetu, spoken by perhaps a million people, and the smaller Lombi and Asoa.
Blench (2000) considers Lombi to be part of the Mangbetu dialect continuum. Asoa is spoken by Pygmies.
Proto-Mangbetu has been reconstructed by Demolin (1992).Demolin, Didier. 1992. Le Mangbetu: etude phonétique et phonologique, 2 vols. Brussels: Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres, Université libre de Bruxelles dissertation.
Comparative vocabulary Mangbetu-Asua languages comparative lexicon:Demolin, Didier. 2021. The languages of the Ituri forest Pygmies: contact and historical perspectives. Diedrich Westermann-Workshop (West-central African linguistic history between Macro-Sudan Belt and Niger-Congo: commemorating Diedrich Westermann’s legacy and the 100th anniversary of the Berlin professorship for African languages), 4-6 November 2021, Humboldt University of Berlin.
Gloss Asua Mangbetu Nabulu Lombi Makere Malele bee ángíyé nɛ́ngágɪ̀ nɛ́ngágɪ́zè nɛ́ngágì nɛ́ngágɪ̀ nɛ́ngágɪ̀ animal élíè nérí nélí nérí nérí nérí tree kílílɛ̀yɛ̀ nèkírè nèkílè néhò nèkílè néhò mouth tíkpòè nètíkpò nètíkpò nètí nɛ̀kɔ́rɔ́ nèkóró arm tɛ̂ nɛ́tɛ́ nɛ́tɛ́ nɛ́tɛ́ nɛ́tɛ́ nɛ́tɛ́ goat àmɛ́mɛ̂ nàmɛ́mɛ́ nàmɛ́mɛ́ nàmyɛ́myɛ́ nàmɛ́mɛ́ nàmɛ́mɛ́ dog ísìyɛ̀ nésì nésì nésì nésì nésì horn lígá néígá néégá nálígá náágá náɛ́gá to cultivate ɔ̀ʔà nɔ̀ʔà nɔ̀ʔà nɔ̀ʔà nɔ̀ʔà nɔ̀ʔà water gwò ègwò ègwò ègwò ègwò ègwò elephant ʊ̀kɔ̀ nɔ́kɔ̀ nɔ́kɔ̀ nɔ́kɔ̀ nɔ́kɔ̀ nɔ́kɔ̀ iron kídígwá néímbá nèèmbà èdùmòòmà náámbá náɛ́mbá arrow líkámʊ́ɛ̀ nɛ̀vàngà nɛ̀vàngà nɛ̀mbààngú nɛ̀vàngà nɛ̀vàngà
See also List of Proto-Mangbetu reconstructions (Wiktionary) Central Sudanic word lists (Wiktionary)
Footnotes
References Nilo-Saharan list (Blench 2000)