Kirundi

Kirundi, also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language spoken by nine million people in Burundi and adjacent parts of Tanzania and Congo-Kinshasa, as well as in Uganda. It is the official language of Burundi. Kirundi is mutually intelligible with Kinyarwanda, an official language of Rwanda, and the two form part of the wider dialect continuum known as Rwanda-Rundi.

The inhabitants of Rwanda and Burundi belong to several different ethnic groups: Hutu (84%), Tutsi, including Hima (15%), and Twa (1%) (a pygmy people). Neighboring dialects of Kirundi are mutually intelligible with Ha, a language spoken in western Tanzania.

Kirundi is frequently cited as a language where Meeussen's rule, a rule describing a certain pattern of tonal change in Bantu languages, is active.

Phonology

Consonants

Although the literature on Rundi agrees on 5 vowels, the number of consonants can vary anywhere from 19 to 26 consonants. The table below is compiled from a survey of academic acceptance of Rundi consonants.