This work provides a systematic description of Lumbu, a bantu language spoken at Mayumba,Gabon. I have chosen to focus on the phonological and morphological analysis.The inventory of phonemes shows 16 consonants and 10 vowels. There are no nasal vowels, butthere is however nazalization favored by the presence of a nasal consonant after the vowel. This part of theanalysis is completed with the description of the tonal system. There are two simple tones /H/ (high) and /B/(low), and also a rising tone /Mt/ (for « montant » in French) and a falling tone /Dt/ (for « descendant » inFrench). Tonal variation is induced by a floating tone.There are 13 noun classes and 3 locative classes. As a rule, classes are grouped in pairs (singular andplural). There is no masculine.feminin distinction. The class prefix of nouns governs concord on all theterms that depend on the noun, i.e., adjectives, demonstratives, possessives, etc.All through the work I have analysed the derivational processes step by step, from the root upwardto the surface form.
