Rwanda-Rundi

For the Belgian colony, see Ruanda-Urundi.

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.

Rwanda-Rundi
Region	Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania
Ethnicity	Hutu, Tutsi, Twa, Ganwa, Ha, Shubi, Hangaza, Vinza
Native speakers	20 million (2001–2007)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Rwanda-Rundi
Dialects	Rwanda (Kinyarwanda) Rundi (Kirundi) Ha Shubi Hangaza Vinza
Official status
Official language in	Rwanda (as Kinyarwanda) Burundi (as Kirundi)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: kin – Rwanda run – Rundi haq – Ha suj – Shubi han – Hangaza vin – Vinza
Glottolog	rwan1241

Comparison of Kinyarwanda and Kirundi

Kinyarwanda and Kirundi are very similar in many aspects, but differ in several ways as well.

Tonal marking

Both languages are tonal languages. High and low tones (or H and L) are the essential tones and, having a 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 and when a long vowel changes from a high tone to a low tone, it is marked as a falling tone. This is often illustrated in Kirundi in Meeussen's rule. Propositions have also been made that tones can shift by a metrical or rhythmic structure.

Symbol1	Explanation	Kinyarwanda	Kirundi	Part of speech	English (definition)
Plain vowel (a, e, i, o, u)	Short vowel Low tone	(gu)saba		Verb	ask, request
		umugezi		Noun	stream, river
		(gu)shyika	(gu)shika	Verb	arrive
		ikiraro		Noun	bridge
		gusa		Incomparable adjective	only, just
Acute vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú)	Short vowel High tone	inká		Noun	cow
		intébe			chair
		igití			tree, stick, wood
		urugó			yard, corral
		urutúgu			shoulder
Circumflex vowel (Kinyarwanda) (â, ê, î, ô, û)	Short vowel High tone	inkâ	inká	Noun	cow
		intêbe	intébe		chair
		igitî	igití		tree, stick, wood
		urugô	urugó		yard, corral
		urutûgu	urutúgu		shoulder
Circumflex vowel (Kirundi) (â, ê, î, ô, û)	Short vowel High tone (on the accent vowel in Kinyarwanda)	amáazi	amâzi	Noun	water
		(gu)téeka	(gu)têka	Verb	cook
		izíiko	izîko	Noun	hearth
		(ku)ryóoha	(ku)ryôha	Verb	taste good
		(gu)kúunda	(gu)kûnda		love, like
macron vowel (Kirundi only) (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū)	Long vowel Low tone (both letters in low tone in Kinyarwanda)	igisaabo	igisābo	Noun	gourd
		icyeegeera	icēgēra		plant
		(ku)giisha	(ku)gīsha	Verb	make go
		ingoona	ingōna	Noun	crocodile
		uruuho	urūho		gourd (utensil)
Caron vowel (Kirundi only) (ǎ, ě, ǐ, ǒ, ǔ)	Long vowel High tone (on the accent vowel in Kinyarwanda)	ububaásha	ububǎsha	Noun	ability
		Abeéga	Aběga	Plural noun	Tutsis, Tutsi clan
		umuhiígi	umuhǐgi	Noun	hunter
		umukoóbwa	umukǒbwa		girl
		umuúnsi	umǔsi		day, date
Diaeresis vowel (Kirundi only) (ä, ë, ï, ö, ü)	Long vowel High tone	No equivalent tonal pattern	bäkoze	Verb	they did
			mwëse	Noun	all of you
			narï nzi	Verb	I thought, I knew
			böse	Noun	all of them
			warüzi	Verb	you thought, you knew
1 These symbols are only used in transcription, for example in a dictionary, but in other forms of writing, plain vowels are used and letters are not doubled (unless if the word itself is spelt in that way).

Spelling

Formation	Kinyarwanda	Kirundi	Part of speech	English (definition)
c+y	cyane	cane	Adverb	very
	cyanjye	canje	Possessive pronoun, possessive adjective	mine, my
	icyubahiro	icubahiro	Noun	respect
	ntacyo	ntaco	Indefinite pronoun	nothing
j+y	-jya	-ja	Prefix, verb	go
	njyewe	njewe	Object pronoun	me
	yanjye	yanje	Possessive pronoun, possessive adjective	mine, my
sh+y	-shyira	-shira	Prefix, verb	put, place
	indeshyo	indesho	Noun	height
	nshya	nsha	Adjective	new
b+y v+y	umubyeyi	umuvyeyi	Noun	parent
	-gorobye	-gorovye	Prefix, verb	became evening
	-ibye	-ivye	Prefix, possessive pronoun, verb	his (multiple objects), stole

Word formation

There are many instances in which the two speech varieties of both languages have words that are slightly different. However, these differences do not continually recur. One has to memorize such differences as "-anga" in Kinyarwanda in contrast to "-anka" in Kirundi (meaning to dislike or hate), because the shift from "g" to "k" is extremely rare, with proof being words like "inka" (cow), "inkono" (pot) and many other words where "nk" is common in both dialects. Such minor variations involve different consonants, vowels or vowel lengths, tones or affixes.

Summary	Rwanda	Rundi	Part of speech	English (definition)
Consonants	impyisi	imfyisi	Plural noun	hyena, jackal
	(kw)anga	(kw)anka	Verb	dislike, hate
	amagambo	amajambo	Plural noun	words
	umunsi	umusi	Noun	day, date
	ijosi	izosi		neck
Vowels	ibiyobe	ibiyoba	Plural noun	peanuts
	(ku)yogoza	(ku)yogeza	Verb	annihilate
	(ku)reba	(ku)raba		see, look
Vowel length	/-riinganira/	/-ringanira/	Prefix, verb	be of equal length
	/-pima/	/-piima/		measure, weigh
	/-sáagura/	/-sáaguura/		be in excess
Tone	/umukonó/	/umukóno/	Noun	signature
	/mugufí/	/mugúfi/	Adjective	short
	/ikiguzí/	/ikigúzi/	Noun	price, value
Formation	nyirabukwe	inabukwe	Noun	mother-in-law
	nyirakuru	inakuru		grandmother1
Mixed	umugati	umukate	Noun	bread
1 In both Kinyarwanda and Kirundi, nyogokuru is more commonly used to mean "grandmother".