- published: 30 Mar 2016
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Kinyarwanda (Kinyarwanda: Ikinyarwanda, IPA: [iciɲɑɾɡwɑːndɑ]), also known as Rwanda (Ruanda) or Rwandan, or in Uganda as Fumbira, is the official language of Rwanda and a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language spoken by 12 million people in Burundi and adjacent parts of southern Uganda. (The Kirundi dialect is the official language of neighboring Burundi.)
Kinyarwanda is one of the three official languages of Rwanda (along with English and French), and is spoken by almost all of the native population. This contrasts with most modern African states, whose borders were drawn by colonial powers and did not correspond to ethnic boundaries or pre-colonial kingdoms.
The table below gives the consonant set of Kinyarwanda.
The table below gives the vowel sounds of Kinyarwanda.
All five vowels occur in long and short forms. The distinction is phonemically distinctive. The quality of a vowel is not affected by its length.
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.