Kinyarwanda

For the 2011 film based on the Rwandan genocide, see Kinyarwanda (film).

Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and the national language of Rwanda. 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. Kinyabwishya and Kinyamulenge are mutually intelligible dialects spoken in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces of neighbouring DR Congo.

Kinyarwanda
Rwandan
Ikinyarwanda
Native to	Rwanda, Uganda, DR Congo
Ethnicity	Banyarwanda
Native speakers	15 million (2014–2022)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Rwanda-Rundi Kinyarwanda
Dialects	Bufumbwa Ikinyabwishya Igikiga Ikinyamurenge Ikirera Urufumbira Urutwatwa
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Rwanda
Language codes
ISO 639-1	rw
ISO 639-2	kin
ISO 639-3	kin
Glottolog	kiny1244
Guthrie code	JD.61
Linguasphere	99-AUS-df

Person	Umunyarwanda
People	Abanyarwanda
Language	Ikinyarwanda

In 2010, the Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture (RALC) 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.

Geographic distribution

Kinyarwanda is spoken in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

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

1. /p/ is only found in loanwords.
2. 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.

The letters ⟨a, e, i⟩ at the end of a word followed by a word starting with a vowel often follows a pattern of omission in common speech (sandhi), though the orthography remains the same. Consider the following excerpt of the Rwandan anthem: 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:

Orthography	Pronunciation
mw	[mŋ]
nw	[nŋw]
nyw	[ɲŋw] or [ŋwa]
pw	[pk]
fw	[fk]
pfw	[p͡fk]
bw	[bɡ]
vw	[vɡ]
tw	[tkw]
tsw	[t͡skw]
cw	[t͡ʃkw]
sw	[skw]
shw	[ʃkw]
dw	[dɡw]
zw	[zɡw]
jw	[ʒɡw]
rw	[ɾɡw]
my	[mɲ]
py	[pc]
ty	[tc]
sy	[sc]
by	[bɟ]
ndy	[ndɟ]
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

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):

(1a)

Ábáana

children

b-a-gii-ye.

they-PST-go-ASP

Ábáana b-a-gii-ye.

children 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

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.

(2a)

Abantu

people

ba-rá-bon-a.

they-PRES-see-ASP

Abantu ba-rá-bon-a.

people they-PRES-see-ASP

"People see"

(2b)

Ku-geenda

INF-go

gu-teer-a

it-cause-ASP

(abaantu)

(people)

ku-bona.

INF-see

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:

(3a)

N-a-andits-e

I-PST-write-ASP

amábárúwa

letters

meênshi.

many

N-a-andits-e amábárúwa meênshi.

I-PST-write-ASP letters 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

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:

(4a)

Umugabo

man

a-ra-andik-iish-a

he-PRES-write-CAUS-ASP

umugabo

man

íbárúwa.

letter

Umugabo a-ra-andik-iish-a umugabo íbárúwa.

man he-PRES-write-CAUS-ASP man 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

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):

(3a)

Ábáana

children

ba-rá-ryáam-ye.

they-PRES-sleep-ASP

Ábáana ba-rá-ryáam-ye.

children they-PRES-sleep-ASP

"The children are sleeping."

(3b)

Umugóre

woman

a-ryaam-iish-ije

she-sleep-CAUS-ASP

ábáana

children

Umugóre a-ryaam-iish-ije ábáana

woman she-sleep-CAUS-ASP children

"The woman is putting the children to sleep."

(4a)

Ábáana

children

ba-ra-som-a

they-PRES-read-ASP

ibitabo.

books

Ábáana ba-ra-som-a ibitabo.

children they-PRES-read-ASP books

"The children are reading the books."

(4b)

Umugabo

man

a-ra-som-eesh-a

he-PRES-read-CAUS-ASP

ábáana

children

ibitabo.

books

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.

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").

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:

-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:

(5a)

Ámáazi

water

a-rá-shyúuh-a.

it-PRES-warm-ASP

Ámáazi a-rá-shyúuh-a.

water it-PRES-warm-ASP

"The water is being warmed."

(5b)

Umugóre

woman

a-rá-shyúush-y-a

she-PRES-warm-CAUS-ASP

ámáazi.

water

Umugóre a-rá-shyúush-y-a ámáazi.

woman she-PRES-warm-CAUS-ASP water

"The woman is warming the water."

(5c)

Umugabo

man

a-rá-shyúuh-iish-a

he-PRES-warm-CAUS-ASP

umugóre

woman

ámáazi

water

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.

References

• 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.

Further reading

• 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.
• Rumford, James (2020). Ikinyarwanda. Honolulu: Manoa Press. ISBN 9781891839245.

External links

• 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