Kirundi
| Rundi | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ikirundi | ||||
| Spoken in |  Burundi,  Uganda |
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| Region | Central Africa | |||
| Ethnicity | Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa | |||
| Native speakers | 8.7 million[citation needed] (2011) 4.85 million (1986) |
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| Language family | ||||
| Official status | ||||
| Official language in | Burundi |
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| Regulated by | No official regulation | |||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-1 | rn | |||
| ISO 639-2 | run | |||
| ISO 639-3 | run | |||
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Kirundi, also known as Rundi, is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language spoken by some 8.7 million people[citation needed] in Burundi and adjacent parts of Tanzania and Congo-Kinshasa, as well as in Uganda. It is the official language of Burundi. (The Kinyarwanda dialect is the official language of neighboring Rwanda.)
The inhabitants of Rwanda and Burundi belong to several different ethnic groups: Hutu (84%), Tutsi, including Hima (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).
Neighboring dialects of Rundi are mutually intelligible with Ha, a language spoken in western Tanzania.
Rundi is frequently cited as a language where Meeussen's rule, a rule describing a certain pattern of tonal change in Bantu languages, is active.
Contents |
[edit] Phonology
[edit] Consonants
While the literature on Rundi agrees on 5 vowels, the number of consonants can vary anywhere from 19 to 26 consonants.[1] The table below is compiled from a survey of academic acceptance of Rundi consonants,[2] grouping voiceless and voiced consonants together in a cell where appropriate, in that order.
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | p b | t d | ɟ | k ɡ | ||
| Affricate | pf | ts | tʃ | |||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | h | ||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||
| Rhotic | ɾ r |
[edit] Vowels
The table below gives the vowel sounds of Rundi.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
All five vowels occur in long and short forms. The distinction is phonemic.[3]
[edit] Tone
Rundi is a tonal language. There are two essential tones in Rundi : high and low (or H and L). Since Rundi has phonemic distinction on vowel length, when a long vowel changes from a low tone to a high tone it is marked as a rising tone. When a long vowel changes from a high tone to a low tone, it is marked as a falling tone.[4]
Rundi is often used in phonology to illustrate examples of Meeussen's rule[5][6] In addition, it has been proposed that tones can shift by a metrical or rhythmic structure. Some authors have expanded these more complex features of the tonal system noting that such properties are highly unusual for a tone system.[7]
[edit] Phonotactics
Syllable structure in Rundi is considered to be CV, that is having no clusters, no coda consonants, and no complex vowel nuclei. It has been proposed that sequences that are CVV in the surface realization are actually CV in the underlying deep structure, with the consonant coalescing with the first vowel.[8]
[edit] Consonant Harmony
Rundi has been shown to have properties of consonant harmony particularly when it comes to sibilants. Meeussen described this harmony in his essay and it is investigated further by others.[9] One example of this harmony is triggered by /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ and targets the set of /s/ and /z/ in preceding adjacent stem syllables.
[edit] Grammar
[edit] Example Translations
| Example translations | |
|---|---|
| Ego | Yes |
| Oya | No |
| Uravuga icongereza? | Do you speak English? |
| Bite? | What's Up? |
| Mwaramutse | Hi/Good Morning |
| Ikirundi n'ikinyarwanda bisa nk'igi czek n'igi slovak | Rundi and Rwanda are closely related like Czech and Slovak |
| Amata | Milk |
| Ejo | Yesterday |
| Eejo° | Tomorrow |
| Nzoza ejo/Nzoz'ejo | I will come tomorrow |
| Ubu | Now |
| Faransa/Ubufaransa | France |
| Ngereza/Ubwongereza | England |
| Leta zunz'ubumwe z'amerika | United States of America |
| Ubudagi | Germany |
| Ububirigi | Belgium |
| °N.B. eejo is pronounced the same as ejo: the other e is written for differentiation. |
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[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Broselow, E. & Niyondagara, A. (1990) Feature geometry and Kirundi palatalization. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 20: 71-88.
- de Samie. (2009) Dictionnaire Francais-Kirundi. L'Harmattan. Paris.
- Goldsmith, J. & Sabimana, F. (1989) The Kirundi Verb. Modèles en tonologie. Editions du CNRS. Paris.
- Meeussen, A.E. (1959) Essai de grammaire Rundi. Annales du Musée Royal du Congo Belge, Série Sciences Humaines - Linguistique, vol. 24. Tervuren.
- Myers, S. (1987) Tone and the structure of words in Shona. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Garland Press. New York.
- Ntihirageza, J. (1993) Kirundi Palatization and Sibilant Harmony : Implications for Feature Geometry. Master thesis, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois.
- Philippson, G. (2003) Tone reduction vs. metrical attraction in the evolution of Eastern Bantu tone systems. INALCO. Paris.
- Sagey, E. (1986) The Representation of Features and Relations in Non-Linear Phonology. Doctoral dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
- Zorc, R. D. & Nibagwire, L. (2007) Kinyarwanda and Kirundi Comparative Grammar. Dunwoody Press. Hyattsville.
[edit] External links
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Kirundi edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
- Online English-Kirundi Dictionary with Sound and Images
- Ethnologue on Rundi
- Free English-Kirundi Dictionary
- Free Kirundi-English Dictionary
- PanAfrican L10n page on Kirundi...
- Learning Kirundi (in Spanish)
- Online Kirundi/English dictionary
- USA Foreign Service Institute Kirundi basic course
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