Kinyarwanda

Kinyarwanda (Kinyarwanda: Ikinyarwanda, IPA: [iciɲɑɾɡwɑːndɑ]), also known as Rwanda (Ruanda) or Rwandan, or in Uganda as Fumbira, is the official language of Rwanda and a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language spoken by 12 million people in Rwanda, Eastern Congo and adjacent parts of southern Uganda. (The Kirundi dialect is the official language of neighboring Burundi.)^[4]

Kinyarwanda is one of the three official languages of Rwanda (along with English and French), and is spoken by almost all of the native population. This contrasts with most modern African states, whose borders were drawn by colonial powers and did not correspond to ethnic boundaries or pre-colonial kingdoms.^[5]

Phonology

Consonants

The table below gives the consonant set of Kinyarwanda.

Vowels

The table below gives the vowel sounds of Kinyarwanda.

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.

Tone

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

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.

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].

Grammar

Nouns

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.

Verbs

All Kinyarwanda verb infinitives begin with ku- (morphed into kw- 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.

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 plural 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 aspect marker suffix.

Causatives

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):^[6]:160–1

(1a.)	Ábáana	b-a-gii-ye.
	children	they-PST-go-ASP
	"The children left."

(1b.)	Umugabo	y-a-tee-ye	ábáana	ku-geend-a.
	man	he-PST-cause-ASP	children	INF-go-ASP
	"The man caused the children to go.

In this construction, the original S can be deleted.^[6]:161

(2a.)	Abanntu	ba-rá-bon-a.
	people	they-PRES-see-ASP
	"People see"

(2b.)	Ku-geenda	gu-teer-a	(abaantu)	ku-bona.
	INF-go	it-cause-ASP	(people)	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:^[6]:161–2

(3a.)	N-a-andits-e	amábárúwa	meênshi.
	I-PST-write-ASP	letters	many
	"I wrote many letters.

(3b.)	Umukoôbwa	y-a-tum-ye	n-á-andik-a	amábárúwa	meênshi.
	girl	she-PST-cause-ASP	I-PST-write-ASP	letters	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:^[6]:164

(4a.)	Umugabo	a-ra-andik-iish-a	umugabo	íbárúwa.
	man	he-PRES-write-CAUE-ASP	man	letter
	"The man is making the man write a letter."

(4b.)	Umugabo	a-ra-andik-iish-a	íkárámu	íbárúwa.
	man	he-PRES-write-INSTR-ASP	pen	letter
	"The man is writing a letter with the pen."

This morpheme can be applied to intransitives (3) or transitives (4):^[6]:164

(3a.)	Ábáana	ba-rá-ryáam-ye.
	children	they-PRES-sleep-ASP
	"The children are sleeping."

(3b.)	Umugóre	a-ryaam-iish-ije	ábáana
	woman	she-sleep-CAUS-ASP	children
	"The woman is putting the children to sleep."

(4a.)	Ábáana	ba-ra-som-a	ibitabo.
	children	they-PRES-read-ASP	books
	"The children are reading the books."

(4b.)	Umugabo	a-ra-som-eesh-a	ábáana	ibitabo.
	man	he-PRES-read-CAUS-ASP	children	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.^{[6]:165–166}

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").^[6]:166

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:^[6]:166

-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:^[6]:167

(5a.)	Ámáazi	a-rá-shyúuh-a.
	water	it-PRES-be	warm-ASP
	"The water is being warmed."

(5b.)	Umugóre	a-rá-shyúush-y-a	ámáazi.
	woman	she-PRES-warm-CAUS-ASP	water
	"The woman is warming the water."

(5c.)	Umugabo	a-rá-shyúuh-iish-a	umugóre	ámáazi.
	man	he-PRES-warm-CAUS-ASP	woman	water.
	"The man is having the woman warm the water.

Notes

References

• 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 (in French). Paris: SELAF. 
• Kimenyi, Alexandre (1980). A Relational Grammar of Kinyarwanda. University of California Press. 

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

Kinyarwanda edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Languages of Rwanda
Official languages	Kinyarwanda French English
Sign languages	Rwandan Sign Language

Languages of Uganda
Official languages	English Swahili Ugandan Sign Language
Indigenous languages	Bantu Amba Gungu Khayo Gwere Khayo Kiga Kinyarwanda Luganda Luhya Marachi Masaba Nkore Nkore-Kiga Nyole Nyoro Ruuli Samia Singa Soga Talinga Tooro Nilo-Saharan Acholi Adhola Alur Aringa Bari Elgon Ik Karamojong Kuku Lango Lugbara Nyangia Pökoot Southern Luo Tepes Teso Others Kitara Nubi Oropom