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Rwanda-Rundi
Rwanda-Rundi is a group of Bantu languages, specifically a dialect continuum, spoken in Central Africa. Two dialects, Kirundi and Kinyarwanda, have been standardized as 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 DR Congo (Kinyabwisha in North Kivu, Kinyamulenge in South 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. 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 ...
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Kirundi
Kirundi, also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language spoken by some 9 million people in Burundi and adjacent parts of Rwanda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, as well as in Kenya. 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.Ethnologue, 15th ed. Kirundi is natively spoken by the Hutu, including Bakiga and other related ethnicities, as well as Tutsi, Twa and Hima among others have adopted the language. Neighbouring dialects of Kirundi are mutually intelligible with Ha, a language spoken in western Tanzania. Kirundi is one of the languages where Meeussen's rule, a rule describing a certain pattern of tonal change in Bantu languages, is active. In 2020, the Rundi Academy was established to help standardize and promote Kirundi. Phonology Consonants Although the literature on Rundi agrees on 5 vowels, th ...
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Kinyarwanda
Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is spoken in Rwanda and adjacent parts of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda (where there is a dialect known as Rufumbira or Urufumbira) and Tanzania. Kinyarwanda is universal among the native hearing population of Rwanda. The mutually intelligible Kirundi dialect is the national language of neighbouring Burundi. Kinyabwishya and Kinyamulenge are mutually intelligible dialects spoken in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces of neighbouring DR Congo. In 2010, the Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture (RALC) was established to help promote and sustain Kinyarwanda. The organization attempted an orthographic reform in 2014, but it was met with pushback due to their perceived top-down and political nature, among other reasons. Geographic distribution Kinyarwanda is spoken in Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda ...
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Hutu
The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great Lakes Twa. Demographics The Hutu is the largest of the three main population divisions in Burundi and Rwanda. Prior to 2017, the CIA World Factbook stated that 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians are Hutu, with Tutsis being the second largest ethnic group at 15% and 14% of residents of Rwanda and Burundi, respectively. However, these figures were omitted in 2017 and no new figures have been published since then. The Twa pygmies, the smallest of the two countries' principal populations, share language and culture with the Hutu and Tutsi. They are distinguished by a considerably shorter stature. Origins The Hutu are believed to have first emigrated to the Great Lake re ...
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Hangaza Language
Hangaza is a Bantu language spoken by the Hangaza people of Tanzania. It is closely related to and partially intelligible with the languages of Rwanda and Burundi. References

Languages of Tanzania Rwanda-Rundi languages {{Bantu-lang-stub ...
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Tutsi
The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic group Hutu and the Pygmy group of the Twa). Historically, the Tutsi were pastoralists and filled the ranks of the warriors' caste. Before 1962, they regulated and controlled Rwandan society, which was composed of Tutsi aristocracy and Hutu commoners, utilizing a clientship structure. They occupied the dominant positions in the sharply stratified society and constituted the ruling class. Origins and classification The definition of "Tutsi" people have changed through time and location. Social structures were not stable throughout Rwanda, even during colonial times under the Belgian rule. The Tutsi aristocracy or elite was distinguished from Tutsi commoners. When the Belgian colonists conducted censuses, they wanted to identify the people t ...
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Ha Language
Ha, also known with the Bantu language prefix as ''Giha, Igiha,'' or ''Kiha,'' is a Bantu language spoken by the Ha people of the Kigoma Region of Tanzania, spoken on the eastern side of Lake Tanganyika up to the headwaters of the Mikonga. It is closely related to the languages of Rwanda and Burundi; neighboring dialects are reported to be mutually intelligible with Kirundi Kirundi, also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language spoken by some 9 million people in Burundi and adjacent parts of Rwanda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, as well as in Kenya. It is the official language of Burundi. Kiru ....Article by Spiridion Shyirambere in: ''Le Français hors de France'' sous la direction de A. Valdman, Editions Honoré Champion, 7 quai Mallasquai, Paris, 1979. The "zone of intercomprehension" is also reported to include KinyaRwanda, Hima and Luganda, and several other local languages. Further reading * Bichwa, Saul S. 2018. "The Role of Prosodic Units in the ...
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Vinza Language
Vinza is a Bantu language spoken by the Vinza people of Tanzania, approximately in the area of the town of Uvinza. Margaret Arminel Bryan, ''The Bantu Languages of Africa'', Oxford University Press 1959. At that time there were about 5,000 speakers. It is closely related to the languages of Rwanda and Burundi, including the Ha language of the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika. References

Languages of Tanzania Rwanda-Rundi languages {{Bantu-lang-stub ...
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Shubi Language
Shubi is a Bantu language spoken by the Shubi people in north-western Tanzania. It may use labiodental plosives , (sometimes written ȹ, ȸ) as phonemes, rather than as allophones of . Peter Ladefoged Peter Nielsen Ladefoged ( , ; 17 September 1925 – 24 January 2006) was a British linguist and phonetician. He was Professor of Phonetics at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he taught from 1962 to 1991. His book ''A Course ... wrote: :We have heard labiodental stops made by a Shubi speaker whose teeth were sufficiently close together to allow him to make an airtight labiodental closure. For this speaker this sound was clearly in contrast with a bilabial stop; but we suspect that the majority of Shubi speakers make the contrast one of bilabial stop versus labial-labiodental affricate (i.e. bilabial stop closure followed by a labiodental fricative), rather than bilabial versus labiodental stop. References External links Rwanda-Rundi languages {{ ...
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Great Lakes Bantu
The Great Lakes Bantu languages, also known as Lacustrine Bantu and Bantu zone J, are a group of Bantu languages of East Africa. They were recognized as a group by the ''Tervuren'' team, who posited them as an additional zone (zone J) to Guthrie's largely geographic classification of Bantu. History By 500BC, proto-Great Lakes Bantu speakers initially settled between Lakes Kivu and Rweru in Rwanda, before rapidly spreading as far east as Kenya. Languages The languages are, according to Bastin, Coupez, & Mann (1999), with Sumbwa added per Nurse (2003): *''Gungu'' (E10) *'' Bwari (Kabwari)'' (D50) *Konzo (D40): Konjo, Nande, ? Kobo * Shi–Havu (D50): Hunde, Havu, Shi, Tembo, Nyindu, Fuliiro *Rwanda-Rundi (D60): Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Shubi, Hangaza, Ha, Vinza *Nyoro–Ganda (E10): Ganda, Nyankore, Nyoro, Tooro, Hema, Chiga, Soga, Gwere, West Nyala, Ruli ::(See also Rutara languages, Runyakitara language, Nkore-Kiga) *Haya–Jita (E20): Haya–Rashi, Talinga-Bw ...
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Northeast Bantu
The Northeast Bantu languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in East Africa. In Guthrie's geographic classification, they fall within Bantu zones E50 plus E46 (Sonjo), E60 plus E74a (Taita), F21–22, J, G60, plus Northeast Coast Bantu (of zones E & G).Derek Nurse, 2003, ''The Bantu Languages'' Some of these languages (F21, most of E50, and some of J) share a phonological innovation called Dahl's law that is unlikely to be borrowed as a productive process, though individual words reflecting Dahl's law have been borrowed into neighboring languages. The languages, or clusters, are: *Kikuyu–Kamba Thagiicu (primarily E50): ** Sonjo (E40) ** Cuka **Meru (incl. Tharaka, Mwimbi-Muthambi) **South ***Kamba, Daisu *** Gikuyu, Embu *Chaga–Taita **Taita (Dawida; E70) – Sagalla **Chaga languages (E60) *Northeast Coast Bantu (G10-G40): Swahili (E70), ''etc.'' *Takama: Sukuma– Nyamwezi (+ Konongo–Ruwila), Kimbu (F20), Iramba–Isanzu, Nyaturu (Rimi) (F30), ? Holohol ...
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Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is highly elevated, giving it the soubriquet "land of a thousand hills", with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the southeast, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. Rwanda has a population of over 12.6 million living on of land, and is the most densely populated mainland African country; among countries larger than 10,000 km2, it is the fifth most densely populated country in the world. One million people live in the Capital city, capital and largest city Kigali. Hunter-gatherers settled the territory in the St ...
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Bantoid
Bantoid is a major branch of the Benue–Congo language family. It consists of the Northern Bantoid languages and the Southern Bantoid languages, a division which also includes the Bantu languages that constitute the overwhelming majority and to which Bantoid is named after. History The term "Bantoid" was first used by Krause in 1895 for languages that showed resemblances in vocabulary to Bantu. Joseph Greenberg, in his 1963 ''The Languages of Africa'', defined Bantoid as the group to which Bantu belongs together with its closest relatives; this is the sense in which the term is still used today. However, according to Roger Blench, the Bantoid languages probably do not actually form a coherent group. Internal classification A proposal that divided Bantoid into North Bantoid and South Bantoid was introduced by Williamson. In this proposal, the Mambiloid and Dakoid languages (and later Tikar) are grouped together as North Bantoid, while everything else Bantoid is subsumed under ...
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