Kinyarwanda language
Encyclopedia
Kinyarwanda is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi
language spoken by some 12 million people in Rwanda
, where it is the official language
, and adjacent parts of southern Uganda
. (The Kirundi
dialect is the official language of neighboring Burundi
.)
The inhabitants of Rwanda and Burundi belong to three different ethnic group
s: Hutu
(84%), Tutsi
(15%), and Twa
(1%) (a pygmy
people). The fact that these ethnic groups share the same language is assumed to be the result of the Hutu outnumbering the latter two groups (see Hutu
for a more complete historical perspective).
All five vowels occur in long and short forms. The distinction is phonemically distinctive
. The quality of a vowel is not affected by its length.
The sequences 'ki' and 'ke' may be pronounced interchangeably as [ki] and [ke] or [chi] and [che] according to speaker's preference.
The letters 'a', 'e', or 'i' at the end of a word followed by a word starting with a vowel often follows a pattern of omission (observed in the following excerpt of the Rwandan anthem) in common speech, though the orthography remains the same. For example, Reka tukurate tukuvuge ibigwi wowe utubumbiye hamwe twese Abanyarwanda uko watubyaye berwa, sugira, singizwa iteka. would be pronounced as "Reka tukurate tukuvug' ibigwi wow' utubumiye hamwe twes' abanyarwand' uko watubyaye berwa, sugira singizw' iteka."
In the colloquial language, there are some discrepancies from orthographic Cw and Cy. Specifically, rw (as in Rwanda) is often pronounced /ɾɡw/. The most obvious differences are the following:
! Orthog. !! Pron.
|-
| rw || /ɾɡw/
|-
| pw || /pk/
|-
| bw || /bɡ/
|-
| mw || /mŋ/
|-
| my || /mɲ/
|-
| tw || /tkw/
|-
| dw || /dɡw /
|-
| cw || /tʃkw/
|-
| by || /bɟ/
|}
Note that these are all sequences; /bɡ/, for example, is not labio-velar
ɡ͡b. Even when Rwanda is pronounced /ɾwanda/, the onset is a sequence, not a labialized [ɾʷ].
noun class
es. Sometimes these are grouped into 10 pairs so that most singular and plural forms of the same word are included in the same class. The table below shows the 16 noun classes and how they are paired in two commonly used systems.
s begin with gu- or ku- (morphed into kw- before vowels). To conjugate, the infinitive prefix is removed and replaced with a prefix agreeing with the subject
. Then a tense infix
can be inserted.
The prefixes for pronouns are as follows:
Tense markers include the following.
The past tense can be formed by using the present and present progressive infixes and modifying the aspect marker suffix.
Rwanda-Rundi
Rwanda-Rundi or Ruanda-Rundi is a Bantu language, actually a dialect continuum, of Central Africa. Neighboring dialects are mutually intelligible, but more distant ones may not be. Two dialects, Kirundi and Kinyarwanda, have been standardized as official languages, of Burundi and Rwanda...
language spoken by some 12 million people in Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, where it is the official language
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
, and adjacent parts of southern Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
. (The Kirundi
Kirundi
Kirundi, also known as Rundi, is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language spoken by some 8.7 million people in Burundi and adjacent parts of Tanzania and Congo-Kinshasa, as well as in Uganda. It is the official language of Burundi...
dialect is the official language of neighboring Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
.)
The inhabitants of Rwanda and Burundi belong to three different ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
s: Hutu
Hutu
The Hutu , or Abahutu, are a Central African people, living mainly in Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern DR Congo.-Population statistics:The Hutu are the largest of the three peoples in Burundi and Rwanda; according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians...
(84%), Tutsi
Tutsi
The Tutsi , or Abatutsi, are an ethnic group in Central Africa. Historically they were often referred to as the Watussi or Watusi. They are the second largest caste in Rwanda and Burundi, the other two being the Hutu and the Twa ....
(15%), and Twa
Great Lakes Twa
The Great Lakes Twa, also known as Abatwa or Ge-Sera, or in English Batwa, are a pygmy people who are generally assumed to be the oldest surviving population of the Great Lakes region of central Africa, though currently they live as a Bantu caste...
(1%) (a pygmy
Pygmy
Pygmy is a term used for various ethnic groups worldwide whose average height is unusually short; anthropologists define pygmy as any group whose adult men grow to less than 150 cm in average height. A member of a slightly taller group is termed "pygmoid." The best known pygmies are the Aka,...
people). The fact that these ethnic groups share the same language is assumed to be the result of the Hutu outnumbering the latter two groups (see Hutu
Hutu
The Hutu , or Abahutu, are a Central African people, living mainly in Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern DR Congo.-Population statistics:The Hutu are the largest of the three peoples in Burundi and Rwanda; according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians...
for a more complete historical perspective).
Consonants
The table below gives the consonant set of Kinyarwanda, grouping voiceless and voiced consonants together in a cell where appropriate, in that order.| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Post-alveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | p b | t d | c ɟ | k ɡ | ||
| Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
ts | tʃ | ||||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | ç | h | |
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
j | w | ||||
| Rhotic Rhotic consonant In phonetics, rhotic consonants, also called tremulants or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including "R, r" from the Roman alphabet and "Р, p" from the Cyrillic alphabet... |
ɾ |
Vowels
The table below gives the vowel sounds of Kinyarwanda.| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | u |
| Close-mid Close-mid vowel A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel... |
e | o |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a | |
All five vowels occur in long and short forms. The distinction is phonemically distinctive
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
. The quality of a vowel is not affected by its length.
Orthography
| A a | B b | C c | Cy cy | D d | E e | F f | G g | H h | I i |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J j | Jy jy | K k | L l | M m | N n | Nk nk | Nt nt | Ny ny | O o |
| P p | R r | S s | Sh sh | T t | U u | V v | W w | Y y | Z z |
The sequences 'ki' and 'ke' may be pronounced interchangeably as [ki] and [ke] or [chi] and [che] according to speaker's preference.
The letters 'a', 'e', or 'i' at the end of a word followed by a word starting with a vowel often follows a pattern of omission (observed in the following excerpt of the Rwandan anthem) in common speech, though the orthography remains the same. For example, Reka tukurate tukuvuge ibigwi wowe utubumbiye hamwe twese Abanyarwanda uko watubyaye berwa, sugira, singizwa iteka. would be pronounced as "Reka tukurate tukuvug' ibigwi wow' utubumiye hamwe twes' abanyarwand' uko watubyaye berwa, sugira singizw' iteka."
In the colloquial language, there are some discrepancies from orthographic Cw and Cy. Specifically, rw (as in Rwanda) is often pronounced /ɾɡw/. The most obvious differences are the following:
-
- {| class=wikitable
! Orthog. !! Pron.
|-
| rw || /ɾɡw/
|-
| pw || /pk/
|-
| bw || /bɡ/
|-
| mw || /mŋ/
|-
| my || /mɲ/
|-
| tw || /tkw/
|-
| dw || /dɡw /
|-
| cw || /tʃkw/
|-
| by || /bɟ/
|}
Note that these are all sequences; /bɡ/, for example, is not labio-velar
Labial-velar consonant
Labial–velar consonants are doubly articulated at the velum and the lips. They are sometimes called "labiovelar consonants", a term that can also refer to labialized velars, such as and the approximant ....
ɡ͡b. Even when Rwanda is pronounced /ɾwanda/, the onset is a sequence, not a labialized [ɾʷ].
Nouns
Kinyarwanda uses 16 of the BantuBantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
noun class
Noun class
In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its referent, such as sex, animacy, shape, but counting a given noun among nouns of such or another class is often clearly conventional...
es. Sometimes these are grouped into 10 pairs so that most singular and plural forms of the same word are included in the same class. The table below shows the 16 noun classes and how they are paired in two commonly used systems.
| Prefix | Classification | Number | Typical words | Example | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bantu | Cox | ??? | ||||
| umu- | 1 | 1 | singular | humans | umuntu – person | |
| aba- | 2 | plural | abantu – people | |||
| umu- | 3 | 2 | singular | trees, shrubs and things that extend | umusozi – hill | |
| imi- | 4 | plural | imisozi – hills | |||
| iri- | 5 | 5 | 3 | singular | things in quantities, body parts and liquids | iryinyo – tooth |
| ama- | 6 | 5/8/9 | 3/8/9 | plural (also substances) | amenyo – teeth | |
| iki- | 7 | 4 | singular | generic, large, or abnormal things | ikintu – thing | |
| ibi- | 8 | plural | ibintu – things | |||
| in- | 9 | 3 | 5 | singular | some plants, animals and household implements | inka – cow |
| in- | 10 | 3/6 | 5/6 | plural | inka – cows | |
| uru- | 11 | 6 | singular | mixture | urugo – home | |
| aka- | 12 | 7 | singular | diminutive forms of other nouns | akantu – little thing | |
| utu- | 13 | plural | utuntu – little things | |||
| ubu- | 14 | 8 | n/a | abstract nouns, qualities or states | ubuntu – generosity | |
| uku- | 15 | 9 | n/a | actions, verbal nouns and gerunds | ukuntu – means | |
| aha- | 16 | 10 | n/a | places, locations | ahantu – place | |
Verbs
All Kinyarwanda verb infinitiveInfinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
s begin with gu- or ku- (morphed into kw- before vowels). To conjugate, the infinitive prefix is removed and replaced with a prefix agreeing with the subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
. Then a tense infix
Infix
An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Indonesian:...
can be inserted.
| singular | singular before vowels | plural | plural before vowels | |
| I | a- | y- | ba- | b- |
| II | u- | w- | i- | y- |
| III | ri- | ry- | a- | y- |
| IV | ki- | cy- | bi- | by- |
| V | i- | y- | zi- | z- |
| VI | ru- | rw- | zi- | z- |
| VII | ka- | k- | tu- | tw- |
| VIII | bu- | bw- | bu- | bw- |
| IX | ku- | kw- | a- | y- |
| X | ha- | h- | ha- | h- |
The prefixes for pronouns are as follows:
- 'I' = n-
- 'you' (sing.) = u-
- 'he/she' = y-/a- (i.e. the singular Class I prefix above)
- 'we' = tu-
- 'you' (pl.) = mu-
- 'they' (human) = ba- (i.e. the singular Class I prefix above)
Tense markers include the following.
- Present ('I do'): - (no infix)
- Present progressive ('I am doing'): -ra- (morphs to -da- when preceded by n)
- Future ('I will do'): -za-
- Continuous progressive ('I'm still doing'): -racya-
| Example translations | |
|---|---|
| Yego | Yes |
| Oya | No |
| Uvuga icyongereza? | Do you speak English? |
| Bite? | What's Up? |
| Mwaramutse | Hi/Good Morning |
| Amata | Milk |
| Ejo | Yesterday |
| Ejo hazaza | Tomorrow |
| Nzaza ejo | I will come tomorrow |
| Ubu | Now |
| Ubufaransa | France |
| Ubwongereza | England |
| Amerika | America |
| Ubudage | Germany |
| Ububirigi | Belgium |
The past tense can be formed by using the present and present progressive infixes and modifying the aspect marker suffix.
External links
- Kinyarwanda.net Kinyarwanda–English dictionary and grammar reference
- Kinyarwanda phonology case study by University of Texas
- PanAfrican localisation page on Kinyarwanda and Kirundi
- Kinyarwanda–English Dictionary by Betty Ellen Cox