Kuria language

Kuria is a Bantu language spoken by the Kuria people of Northern Tanzania, with some speakers also residing in Kenya.

Kuria
Igikuria
Native to	Kenya, Tanzania[1]
Ethnicity	Kuria people
Native speakers	690,000 (2005–2009)[2]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Logooli–Kuria (E.40) Kuria
Dialects	Kuria proper Simbiti Hacha Surwa Sweta
Writing system	Latin, Arabic
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kuj
Glottolog	kuri1259
Guthrie code	JE.43,431–434[3]

Maho (2009) treats the Simbiti, Hacha, Surwa, and Sweta varieties as distinct languages.

Alphabet

	Kuria alphabet (Kenya)[4][5][6]
Uppercase	A	B	Ch	E	Ë	G	H	I	K	M	N	Nd	Ny	Ng'	O	Ö	R	Rr	S	T	U	W	Y
Lowercase	a	b	ch	e	ë	g	h	i	k	m	n	nd	ny	ng'	o	ö	r	rr	s	t	u	w	y
IPA Symbol	a	β	t͡ʃ	e	ɛ	ɣ	h	i	k	m	n	n͡d	ɲ	ŋ	o	ɔ	ɾ	r	s	t	u	w	j

Phonology

Consonants

Kuria consonant phonemes^[5]

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop		t		k
Fricative	β	s		ɣ	h
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Trill		r
Flap		ɾ
Glide				j
Prenasalized Stops	m͡b	n͡d		ŋ͡g
Affricates			t͡ʃ

Vowels

Kuria vowels^[5]

	Advanced Tongue Root (+ATR)			-ATR
	Front	Central	Back	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-Mid	e		o
Open-Mid				ɛ		ɔ
Open					a

All vowels contrast length, and can be either short or long.

Bibliography

• Jelle Cammenga, Igikuria phonology and morphology : a Bantu language of South-West Kenya and North-West Tanzania, Köppe, Köln, 2004, 351 p. ISBN 3896450298 (revised text of a thesis)
• S. M. Muniko, B. Muita oMagige and M. J. Ruel (ed.), Kuria-English dictionary, LIT, Hambourg, 1996, 137 p. ISBN 3825829510
• W. H. Whiteley, The structure of the Kuria verbal and its position in the sentence, University of London, 1955, 161 p. (thesis)
• Phebe Yoder, Tata na Baba = Father and Mother : a first Kuria reader, Musoma Press, Musoma, Tanganyika, 1949, 44 p.