Kinyarwanda (also known simply as Rwanda) is a Bantu language spoken primarily in Rwanda, where it is one of the official languages of the country, as well as in southern Uganda and in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinyarwanda is mutually intelligible with Kirundi, an official language of Burundi.
Phonology
Tone
Kinyarwanda is a tonal language.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 |
'ki' and 'ke' can be pronounced interchangeably as [ki] and [ke] or [ci] and [ce] according to speaker's preference
An '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:
Orthog. Pron. rw /ɾɡw/ pw /pk/ bw /bɡ/ mw /mŋ/ my /mɲ/ tw /tkw/ dw cw /tʃkw/ by /bdʒ/ Note that these are all sequences; /bɡ/, for example, is not labio-velar /b͡ɡ/. Even when Rwanda is pronounced /ɾwanda/, the onset is a sequence.
Grammar
Nouns
Kinyarwanda has ten noun classes pairs:singular plural type of words I (u)mu- (a)ba- humans II (u)mu- (i)mi- III (i)(ri)- (a)ma- IV (i)ki- or (i)gi- (i)bi- V (i)n- (i)n- VI (u)ru- (i)n- VII (a)ka- (u)tu- VIII (u)bu- (u)bu- IX (u)ku- (a)ma- X (a)ha- (a)ha- When preceded by a demonstrative, the vowel prefix is dropped. (e.g. umu- → mu-). Class I is used for words representing humans.
Verbs
All Kinyarwanda verb infinitives 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.singular singular before vowels plural I a- y- ba- II u- i- III ri- a- IV ki- cy- bi- V i- zi- VI ru- bi- VII ka- tu- VIII bu- bu- IX ku- a- X ha- ha- The prefixes for pronouns are as follows:
- 'I' = n-
- 'you' (sing.) = mu-
- 'he/she' = y-/a- (i.e. the singular Class I prefix above)
- 'we' = tu-
- 'you' (pl.) = u-
- '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-
The past tense can be formed by using the present and present progressive infixes and modifying the apect marker suffix.
Notes
References
- Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th ed., Dallas: SIL.
- Habumuremyi, Emmanuel et al. (2006). IRIZA-STARTER 2006: The 1st Kinyarwanda-English and English-Kinyarwanda Dictionary. Kigali: Rural ICT-Net.
- Jouannet, Francis (ed.) (1983). Le Kinyarwanda, langue bantu du Rwanda. Paris: SELAF.
- Kimenyi, Alexandre (1980). A Relational Grammar of Kinyarwanda. University of California Press.
External links
- PanAfrican L10n page on Kinyarwanda–Kirundi (has links to dictionaries)
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Last updated on Friday June 27, 2008 at 16:19:12 PDT (GMT -0700)
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