SANGO: a language of Central African Republic

The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.

SIL code: SAJ

ISO 639-1: sg

ISO 639-2: sag

Population	350,000 mother tongue speakers in CAR, including 24,573 Sango Riverain (1988 census). Population total all countries 400,000 or more. Including second language speakers: 5,000,000 (1997 UBS).
Region	Scattered. Not in Cameroon. Also spoken in Chad, Congo, DRC.
Alternate names	SANGHO
Classification	Creole, Ngbandi based.
Comments	51% lexical similarity with French, 49% from African languages. However, the African-based words are used more frequently. Spoken and written for informal use, used for instruction in community schools, in public schools when students do not understand French, church and mission publications. More men than women speak it as second language. A rapidly spreading creole derived from Ngbandi. National language. SVO. Radio programs, TV. Bible 1966.

Also spoken in:

Chad

Language name	SANGO
Alternate names	SANGHO
Comments	A trade language derived from Ngbandi, with decreasing usage in Chad. Probably no mother tongue speakers in Chad. Trade language. Bible 1966. See main entry under CAR.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Language name	SANGO
Population	Only a few in DRC.
Alternate names	SANGHO
Comments	A rapidly spreading language derived from Ngbandi with loans from Bantu languages and French. Trade language. Bible 1966. See main entry under CAR.