Rwanda-Rundi
Sign in to saveAlso known as Rwanda-Rundi language
Rwanda-Rundi or West Highlands Kivu is a group of Bantu languages, specifically a dialect continuum, spoken in Central Africa. Two dialects, Kirundi and Kinyarwanda, have been standardized as the national languages of Burundi and Rwanda respectively. These neighbouring dialects are mutually intelligible, but other dialects which are more distant ones may not be. The other dialects are spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinyabwisha in North Kivu), Uganda (Rufumbira, spoken by the Bafumbira in Kisoro District), and Tanzania; Ha, with one million speakers, is the most widely spoken.
Key facts
- Language.name
- Rwanda-Rundi
- Language.region
- Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania
- Language.ethnicity
- Hutu, Tutsi, Twa, Ganwa, Ha, Shubi, Hangaza, Vinza
- Language.speakers
- million
- Language.date
- 2001–2007
- Language.familycolor
- Niger-Congo
- Language.fam2
- Atlantic–Congo
- Language.fam3
- Volta-Congo
- Language.fam4
- Benue–Congo
- Language.fam5
- Bantoid
- Language.fam6
- Southern Bantoid
- Language.fam7
- Bantu
- Language.fam8
- Northeast Bantu
- Language.fam9
- Great Lakes Bantu
- Language.glotto
- rwan1241
- Language.glottorefname
- West Highlands Kivu
- Language.nation
- (as Kinyarwanda)(as Kirundi)
- Language.dia1
- Kinyarwanda
via Wikipedia infobox
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Comparison of Kinyarwanda and Kirundi
- Tonal marking
- Spelling
- Word formation
- References
- Sources
Rwanda-Rundi or West Highlands Kivu is a group of Bantu languages, specifically a dialect continuum, spoken in Central Africa. Two dialects, Kirundi and Kinyarwanda, have been standardized as the national languages of Burundi and Rwanda respectively. These neighbouring dialects are mutually intelligible, but other dialects which are more distant ones may not be. The other dialects are spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinyabwisha in North Kivu), Uganda (Rufumbira, spoken by the Bafumbira in Kisoro District), and Tanzania; Ha, with one million speakers, is the most widely spoken.
==Comparison of Kinyarwanda and Kirundi== Kinyarwanda and Kirundi are very similar in many aspects, but differ in several ways as well.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Rwanda-Rundi” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.