Editing Luba-Kasai language (section)

== Geographic distribution and dialects ==
Tshiluba is chiefly spoken in a large area in the [[Kasaï Occidental]] and [[Kasaï-Oriental (former province)|Kasaï Oriental]] provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, the differences in Tshiluba within the area are minor, consisting mostly of differences in tones and vocabulary, and speakers easily understand one another. Both dialects have subdialects. 
{{anchor|Pidgin}}

Additionally, there is also a [[pidgin]]ised variety of Tshiluba,<ref name="Guthrie" /> especially in cities, where the everyday spoken [[Tshiluba]] is enriched with [[French language|French]] words and even words from other languages, such as [[Lingala]] or [[Swahili language|Swahili]]. Nevertheless, it is not a typical form of a pidgin since it is not common to everyone but changes its morphology and the quantity and degree to which words from other languages are used. Its form changes depending on who speaks it and varies from city to city and social class to social class. However, people generally speak the regular Tshiluba language in their daily lives, rather than pidgin.

The failure of the language to be taught at school has resulted in the replacement of native words by French words for the most part. For instance, people speaking generally count in French, rather than Tshiluba. The situation of French and Tshiluba being used simultaneously made linguists mistakenly think that the language had been pidginised.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}