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 spoken in Burundi and adjacent parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda (where there is a dialect known as Rufumbira or Urufumbira) and Tanzania. 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.[8]
Geographic distribution
Kinyarwanda is spoken in Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Tanzania. It is also spoken by some Rwandans in Kenya. Rufumbira, Fumbira or Urufumbira, spoken by the Bafumbira of the Kisoro District of Uganda, is a dialect of Kinyarwanda.
Phonology
See also: Rwanda-Rundi § Comparison of Kinyarwanda and Kirundi
Consonants
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
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
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
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.
pw [pk]
bw [bɡ]
tw [tkw]
dw [dɡw]
mw [mŋ]
nw [nŋw]
nyw [ɲŋw] or [ŋwa]
fw [fk]
vw [vɡ]
sw [skw]
zw [zɡw]
shw [ʃkw]
jw [ʒɡw]
pfw [p͡fk]
tsw [t͡skw]
cw [t͡ʃkw]
rw [ɾɡw]
py [pc]
by [bɟ]
ty [tc]
ndy [ndɟ]
my [mɲ]
sy [sc]
ry [ɾɟ]
Note that 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
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.
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
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
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]
(1a)
Ábáana
children
b-a-gii-ye.
they-pst-go-asp
"The children left."
(1b)
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]
(2a)
Abantu
people
ba-rá-bon-a.
they-pres-see-asp
"People see"
(2b)
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]
(3a)
N-a-andits-e
I-pst-write-asp
amábárúwa
letters
meênshi.
many
"I wrote many letters."
(3b)
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]
(4a)
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."
(4b)
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]
(3a)
Ábáana
children
ba-rá-ryáam-ye.
they-pres-sleep-asp
"The children are sleeping."
(3b)
Umugóre
woman
a-ryaam-iish-ije
she-sleep-caus-asp
ábáana
children
"The woman is putting the children to sleep."
(4a)
Ábáana
children
ba-ra-som-a
they-pres-read-asp
ibitabo.
books
"The children are reading the books."
(4b)
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]
(5a)
Ámáazi
water
a-rá-shyúuh-a.
it-pres-warm-asp
"The water is being warmed."
(5b)
Umugóre
woman
a-rá-shyúush-y-a
she-pres-warm-caus-asp
ámáazi.
water
"The woman is warming the water."
(5c)
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
Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin
Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
Pronounced /ˌkɪnjərəˈwɑːndə/, /-ruˈændə/, /-ruˈɑːndə/, /ˌkiːnjə-/; Kinyarwanda: Ikinyarwanda [i.ci.ɲɑ.ɾɡwɑː.ndɑ]
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, 16th Ed.
"Rundi", Ethnologue, 16th 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.
Kimenyi 1980, p. 164.
Kimenyi 1980, pp. 165–166.
Kimenyi 1980, p. 166.
Kimenyi 1980, p. 167.
References
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 (2020). Kinyarwanda Wörterbuch. Mit einer Einführung in Sprache und Grammatik (in German). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
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 (1979). Studies in Kinyarwanda and Bantu Phonology. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Linguistic Research Inc. ISBN 0887830331.
Kimenyi, Alexandre (1980). A Relational Grammar of Kinyarwanda. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520095987.
Rumford, James (2020). Ikinyarwanda. Honolulu: Manoa Press. ISBN 9781891839245.
