Kinyarwanda
Kinyarwanda | |
---|---|
Rwandan | |
Ikinyarwanda | |
Native to | Rwanda, Uganda, DR Congo |
Ethnicity | Banyarwanda |
Native speakers | 15 million (2014–2022)[1] |
Dialects |
|
Latin | |
Official status | |
Official language in | ![]() |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | rw |
ISO 639-2 | kin |
ISO 639-3 | kin |
Glottolog | kiny1244 |
JD.61 [2] | |
Linguasphere | 99-AUS-df |
Person | Umunyarwanda |
---|---|
People | Abanyarwanda |
Language | Ikinyarwanda |
Kinyarwanda,[3] Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda,[4] is a Bantu language and the national language of Rwanda.[5] It is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is also spoken in adjacent parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Uganda, where the dialect is known as Rufumbira or Urufumbira. Kinyarwanda is universal among the native population of Rwanda and is mutually intelligible with Kirundi, the national language of neighbouring Burundi.[6] Kinyabwishya and Kinyamulenge are mutually intelligible dialects spoken in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces of neighbouring DR Congo.
In 2010, the Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture (RALC)[7] was established to help promote and sustain Kinyarwanda. The organization attempted an orthographic reform in 2014, but it was met with pushback due to their perceived top-down and political nature, among other reasons.
Umwero Alphabet
[edit]The Umwero Alphabet is a newly developed writing system for the Kinyarwanda language, created by Kwizera Mugisha in 2019. This innovative script is designed to preserve and promote the linguistic heritage of Kinyarwanda by providing a unique and culturally significant means of written expression. The alphabet introduces new characters and orthographic rules tailored to the phonetic and syntactic nuances of the Kinyarwanda language.
History
[edit]The Umwero Alphabet was conceived by Kwizera Mugisha, a dedicated cultural preservationist and computer science student at the University of Rwanda. Recognizing the need for a distinctive writing system that reflects the linguistic richness of Kinyarwanda, Mugisha embarked on the project to create an alphabet that would both honor traditional language practices and meet contemporary needs.
Features
[edit]The Umwero Alphabet consists of 39 characters, each representing distinct sounds in the Kinyarwanda language. The script is designed to be intuitive for native speakers, with a focus on clarity and ease of learning. In addition to its primary function as a writing system, the Umwero Alphabet also aims to foster a deeper appreciation of Kinyarwanda's cultural heritage.
Umwero Virtual Keyboard
[edit]To facilitate the use of the Umwero Alphabet in digital communication, Kwizera Mugisha has also developed a virtual keyboard by help from Craig Cornelius, that allows users to type in the script seamlessly. The virtual keyboard is accessible online and supports various devices, ensuring that the Umwero Alphabet can be used widely across different platforms.
External Links
[edit]Geographic distribution
[edit]Kinyarwanda is spoken in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]The table below gives the consonants of Kinyarwanda.
Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | (ŋ) | ||||
Plosive | voiceless | p1 | t | (c) | k | |||
voiced | (b) | d | (ɟ) | ɡ | ||||
Affricate | voiceless | p͡f | t͡s | t͡ʃ | ||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | ç | h | ||
voiced | β | v | z | ʒ | ||||
Approximant | j | w | ||||||
Rhotic | ɾ |
- /p/ is only found in loanwords.
- Consonants in parentheses are allophones.
Vowels
[edit]The table below gives the vowel sounds of Kinyarwanda.
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
Close | i iː | u uː |
Mid | e eː | o oː |
Open | a aː |
Tone
[edit]Kinyarwanda is a tonal language. Like many Bantu languages, it has a two-way contrast between high and low tones (low-tone syllables may be analyzed as toneless). The realization of tones in Kinyarwanda is influenced by a complex set of phonological rules.
Orthography
[edit]Letter(s) | a | b | c | cy | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | jy | k | m | n | ny | o | p | pf | r | s | sh | shy | t | ts | u | v | w | y | z |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IPA | a, aː | β, b | t͡ʃ | c | d | e, eː | f | ɡ, ɟ | h | i, iː | ʒ | ɟ | k, c | m | n, ŋ | ɲ | o, oː | p | p͡f | ɾ | s | ʃ | ç | t | t͡s | u, uː | v | w | j | z |
Except in a few morphological contexts, the sequences 'ki' and 'ke' may be pronounced interchangeably as [ki] and [ke] or [ci] and [ce] according to speaker's preference.[9]
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."
There are some discrepancies in pronunciation from orthographic Cw and Cy. The glides /w j/ strengthen to stops in consonant clusters. For example, rw (as in Rwanda) is normally pronounced [ɾɡw]. The differences are the following:
Orthog. Pron. mw [mŋ] ŋ nw [nŋw] ŋw nyw [ɲŋw] or [ŋwa] pw [pk] k fw [fk] pfw [p͡fk] bw [bɡ] g vw [vɡ] tw [tkw] kw tsw [t͡skw] cw [t͡ʃkw] sw [skw] shw [ʃkw] dw [dɡw] gw zw [zɡw] jw [ʒɡw] rw [ɾɡw] my [mɲ] ɲ py [pc] c ty [tc] sy [sc] by [bɟ] ndy [ndɟ] ɟ ry [ɾɟ]
These are all sequences; [bɡ], for example, is not labial-velar [ɡ͡b]. Even when Rwanda is pronounced [ɾwaːnda] rather than [ɾɡwaːnda], the onset is a sequence, not a labialized [ɾʷ].
Grammar
[edit]Nouns
[edit]Kinyarwanda uses 16 of the Bantu noun classes. 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, 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, body parts | 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
[edit]All Kinyarwanda verb infinitives begin with ku- (morphed into k(w)- before vowels, and into gu- before stems beginning with a voiceless consonant due to Dahl's Law). To conjugate, the infinitive prefix is removed and replaced with a prefix agreeing with the subject. Then a tense marker can be inserted.
Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Corresp. Noun Class |
before consonants | before vowels | Corresp. Noun Class |
before consonants | before vowels | |
1st person | n-/m- | n- | tu-/du- | tw- | ||
2nd person | u- | w- | mu- | mw- | ||
I | 1 | a- | y- | 2 | ba- | b- |
II | 3 | u- | w- | 4 | i- | y- |
III | 5 | ri- | ry- | 6 | a- | y- |
IV | 7 | ki- | cy- | 8 | bi- | by- |
V | 9 | i- | y- | 10 | zi- | z- |
VI | 11 | ru- | rw- | 10 | zi- | z- |
VII | 12 | ka- | k- | 13 | tu- | tw- |
VIII | 14 | bu- | bw- | 16 | bu- | bw- |
IX | 15 | ku- | k(w)- | 16 | a- | y- |
X | 16 | ha- | h- | 16 | ha- | h- |
The class I prefixes y-/a- and ba- correspond to the third person for persons. The personal prefix n- becomes m- before a labial sound (p, b, f, v), while personal prefix tu- becomes du- under Dahl's Law.
Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Full pronoun | Subject prefix | Full pronoun | Subject prefix | |
1st person | njye(we) | n-/m- | mwe(bwe) | tu-/du- |
2nd person | wowe | u-/w- | twe(bwe) | mu-/mw- |
3rd person | we | a-/y- | bo | ba- |
Every regular verb has three stems: the imperfective (ending in the morpheme -a), the perfective (ending in the morpheme -:ye, which may trigger a variety of morphophonological changes in the preceding segment) and the subjunctive (ending in the morpheme -e).
According to Botne (1983), a verb may belong to any of eight Aktionsart categories, which may be broadly grouped into stative and dynamic categories. In the immediate tense, dynamic verbs take the imperfective stem while stative verbs take the perfective stem, while both use the imperfective stem in the habitual or gnomic tense.
Simple tense/mood markers include the following:
- With the present stem:
- Present ('I do'): - (no infix)
- Present Progressive ('I am doing'): -ra- (assimilates to -da- when preceded by n)
- Habitual Past ('I used to do/was doing'): -a- plus -ga suffixed to the verb
- Future ('I will do'): -za-
- With the past stem:
- Polite Imperative ('Let me do'; 'please do'): - (no infix)
- Perfect ('I have done/I did'): -a-
- Near Past ('I just did'): -ra- (assimilates to -da- when preceded by n)
- Preterite ('I did'): -ara-
- Subjunctive ('that I do/did'): -za-
Object affixes corresponding to the noun classes of an object may be placed after the tense marker and before the verb stem:
Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Corresp. Noun Class |
before consonants | before vowels | Corresp. Noun Class |
before consonants | before vowels | |
1st person | -n-/-m- | -ny- | -tu-/-du- | -tw- | ||
2nd person | -ku-/-gu- | -kw- | -ba- | -b- | ||
I | 1 | -mu- | -mw- | 2 | -ba- | -b- |
II | 3 | -wu- | -w- | 4 | -yi- | -y- |
III | 5 | -ri- | -ry- | 6 | -ya- | -y- |
IV | 7 | -ki- | -cy- | 8 | -bi- | -by- |
V | 9 | -yi- | -y- | 16 | -zi- | -z- |
VI | 11 | -ru- | -rw- | 10 | -zi- | -z- |
VII | 12 | -ka-/-ga- | -k- | 13 | -tu-/-du- | -tw- |
VIII | 14 | -bu- | -bw- | 16 | -ya- | -y- |
IX | 15 | -ku-/-gu- | -kw- | 16 | -ya- | -y- |
X | 16 | -ha- | -h- | 16 | -ha- | -h- |
The personal object affixes are as follows:
Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Full pronoun | Object affix | Full pronoun | Object affix | |
1st person | njye(we) | -n-/-m- (cons.) -ny- (vowel) |
mwebwe | tu-/du- (cons.) -tw- (vowel) |
2nd person | wowe | -ku-/-gu- (cons.) -kw- (vowel) |
twe(bwe) | -ba- (cons.) -b- (vowel) |
3rd person | we | -mu- (cons.) -mw- (vowel) |
bo | -ba- (cons.) -b- (vowel) |
Causatives
[edit]Kinyarwanda employs the use of periphrastic causatives, in addition to morphological causatives.
The periphrastic causatives use the verbs -teer- and -tum-, which mean cause. With -teer-, the original subject becomes the object of the main clause, leaving the original verb in the infinitive (just like in English):[10]
Ábáana
children
b-a-gii-ye.
they-PST-go-ASP
"The children left."
Umugabo
man
y-a-tee-ye
he-PST-cause-ASP
ábáana
children
ku-geend-a.
INF-go-ASP
"The man caused the children to go.
In this construction, the original S can be deleted.[11]
Abantu
people
ba-rá-bon-a.
they-PRES-see-ASP
"People see"
Ku-geenda
INF-go
gu-teer-a
it-cause-ASP
(abaantu)
(people)
ku-bona.
INF-see
"To travel causes to see."
With -túm-, the original S remains in the embedded clause and the original verb is still marked for person and tense:[12]
N-a-andits-e
I-PST-write-ASP
amábárúwa
letters
meênshi.
many
"I wrote many letters."
Umukoôbwa
girl
y-a-tum-ye
she-PST-cause-ASP
n-á-andik-a
I-PST-write-ASP
amábárúwa
letters
meênshi.
many
"The girl caused me to write many letters."
Derivational causatives use the instrumental marker -iish-. The construction is the same, but it is instrumental when the subject is inanimate and it is causative when the subject is animate:[13]
Umugabo
man
a-ra-andik-iish-a
he-PRES-write-CAUS-ASP
umugabo
man
íbárúwa.
letter
"The man is making the man write a letter."
Umugabo
man
a-ra-andik-iish-a
he-PRES-write-INSTR-ASP
íkárámu
pen
íbárúwa.
letter
"The man is writing a letter with the pen."
This morpheme can be applied to intransitives (3) or transitives (4):[13]
Ábáana
children
ba-rá-ryáam-ye.
they-PRES-sleep-ASP
"The children are sleeping."
Umugóre
woman
a-ryaam-iish-ije
she-sleep-CAUS-ASP
ábáana
children
"The woman is putting the children to sleep."
Ábáana
children
ba-ra-som-a
they-PRES-read-ASP
ibitabo.
books
"The children are reading the books."
Umugabo
man
a-ra-som-eesh-a
he-PRES-read-CAUS-ASP
ábáana
children
ibitabo.
books
"The man is making the children read the books."
However, there can only be one animate direct object. If a sentence has two, one or both is deleted and understood from context.[14]
The suffix -iish- implies an indirect causation (similar to English have in "I had him write a paper), while other causatives imply a direct causation (similar to English make in "I made him write a paper").[15]
One of these more direct causation devices is the deletion of what is called a "neutral" morpheme -ik-, which indicates state or potentiality. Stems with the -ik- removed can take -iish, but the causation is less direct:[15]
-mének- "be broken" -mén- "break" -méneesh- "have (something) broken" -sáduk- "be cut" -sátur- "cut" -sátuz- "have (something) cut"
Another direct causation maker is -y- which is used for some verbs:[16]
Ámáazi
water
a-rá-shyúuh-a.
it-PRES-warm-ASP
"The water is being warmed."
Umugóre
woman
a-rá-shyúush-y-a
she-PRES-warm-CAUS-ASP
ámáazi.
water
"The woman is warming the water."
Umugabo
man
a-rá-shyúuh-iish-a
he-PRES-warm-CAUS-ASP
umugóre
woman
ámáazi
water
"The man is having the woman warm the water.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Kinyarwanda at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Pronounced /ˌkɪnjərəˈwɑːndə/, /-ruˈændə/, /-ruˈɑːndə/, /ˌkiːnjə-/; Kinyarwanda: Ikinyarwanda [iciɲɑɾɡwɑːndɑ]
- ^ Official Gazette n° Special of 24/12/2015, p. 31, https://www.aripo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/RWANDA_CONSTITUTION_NEW_2015_Official_Gazette_no_Special_of_24.12.2015.pdf
- ^ "Rwanda", Ethnologue, 27th Ed.
- ^ "Rundi", Ethnologue, 27th Ed.
- ^ Official Gazette n° Special of 27/07/2012, p. 37, https://docplayer.net/14679534-Ibirimo-summary-sommaire.html
- ^ Niyomugabo, Cyprien; Uwizeyimana, Valentin (20 March 2017). "A top–down orthography change and language attitudes in the context of a language-loyal country". Language Policy. 17 (3): 307–318. doi:10.1007/s10993-016-9427-x. ISSN 1568-4555. S2CID 151319065.
- ^ "Kinyarwanda translation and voice over services". golocalise.com. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ Kimenyi 1980, pp. 160–61.
- ^ Kimenyi 1980, p. 161.
- ^ Kimenyi 1980, pp. 161–2.
- ^ a b Kimenyi 1980, p. 164.
- ^ Kimenyi 1980, pp. 165–166.
- ^ a b Kimenyi 1980, p. 166.
- ^ Kimenyi 1980, p. 167.
References
[edit]- Boyd, J. Barron (December 1979). "African Boundary Conflict: An Empirical Study". African Studies Review. 22 (3): 1–14. doi:10.2307/523892. ISSN 0002-0206. JSTOR 523892. S2CID 145722128.
- Brack, Matthias; Musoni, Marie-Goretti (2021). Wörterbuch Kinyarwanda–Deutsch. Mit einer Einführung in Sprache und Grammatik. Study Books of African Languages (in German). Vol. 25. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89645-588-8.
- Habumuremyi, Emmanuel; Uwamahoro, Claudine (December 2006). IRIZA-STARTER 2006: A Bilingual Kinyarwanda–English and English–Kinyarwanda Dictionary (PDF) (1st ed.). Kigali: Rwanda Community Net.
- Jouannet, Francis, ed. (1983). Le Kinyarwanda, langue bantu du Rwanda (in French). Paris: SELAF.
- Kimenyi, Alexandre (1979). Studies in Kinyarwanda and Bantu Phonology. Carbondale, IL: Linguistic Research. ISBN 0-887-83033-1.
- Kimenyi, Alexandre (1980). A Relational Grammar of Kinyarwanda. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09598-7.
- Original Thesis: Kimenyi, Alexandre (1976). A Relational Grammar of Kinyarwanda (PDF) (PhD dissertation). Los Angeles: University of California. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 May 2017.
- Rumford, James (2020). Ikinyarwanda. Honolulu: Manoa Press. ISBN 9781891839245.
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/40px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png)
Media related to Kinyarwanda language at Wikimedia Commons
- Kinyarwanda.net Kinyarwanda–English dictionary Archived 19 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine 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
- A Kinyarwanda-English and English-Kinyarwanda Dictionary