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Kikuyu or Gikuyu ( ki, Gĩkũyũ, link=no ) is a
Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...
language spoken by the
Gĩkũyũ The Kikuyu (also ''Agĩkũyũ/Gĩkũyũ'') are a Bantu ethnic group native to Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making them Kenya's largest ethnic group. The t ...
(''Agĩkũyũ'') of
Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...
. Kikuyu is mainly spoken in the area between
Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County. The town was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province. Following the dissolution of the former pr ...
and
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...
. The Kikuyu people usually identify their lands by the surrounding mountain ranges in Central Kenya which they call ''Kĩrĩnyaga''. The Gikuyu language is intelligibly similar to its surrounding neighbors, the
Meru Meru may refer to: Geography Kenya * Meru, Kenya, a city in Meru County, Kenya ** Meru County, created by the merger of *** Meru Central District *** Meru North District *** Meru South District * Meru National Park, a Kenyan wildlife park T ...
and Embu.


Dialects

Kikuyu has four main mutually intelligible dialects. The Central Province districts are divided along the traditional boundaries of these dialects, which are Kĩrĩnyaga, Mũrang'a,
Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County. The town was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province. Following the dissolution of the former pr ...
and
Kiambu Kiambu is a town in Kiambu County, Kenya within the Nairobi Metropolitan Region. It is from the capital Nairobi. It has an population of 147,870. It is the capital of the Kiambu County, which bounds the northern border of Nairobi. Other proxi ...
. The Kikuyu from Kĩrĩnyaga are composed of two main sub-dialects – the Ndia and Gichugu who speak the dialects ''Kĩndia'' and ''Gĩgĩcũgũ''. The Gicugus and the Ndias do not have the "ch" or "sh" sound, and will use the "s" sound instead, hence the pronunciation of "Gĩcũgũ" as opposed to "Gĩchũgũ". To hear Ndia being spoken, one needs to be in
Kerugoya Kerugoya is the biggest town in Kirinyaga County. Kerugoya is located 10 kilometres east of Karatina and 40 kilometres west of Embu. It is situated in the former District of Kirinyaga. Travel directions by road from Nairobi, is through Thika roa ...
, the largest town in Kîrînyaga. Other home towns for the Ndia, where "purer" forms of the dialect are spoken, are located in the tea-growing areas of Kagumo,
Baricho Baricho is a settlement in Kenya's Kilifi County Kilifi County was formed in 2010 as a result of a merger of Kilifi District and Malindi District, Kenya. Its capital is Kilifi and its largest town is Malindi. Kilifi county is one of the ...
,
Kagio Kagio is a town in Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest ...
, and the
Kangaita Kangaita is a settlement in Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = ...
hills. Lower down the slopes is
Kutus Kutus is a town in Kirinyaga County, Kenya. Geography Kutus (Kirinyaga county headquarters) forms a local authority together with another township, Kerugoya. It is known as ''Kerugoya/Kutus municipality''. The municipality has a population of 3 ...
, which is a bustling town with so many influences from the other dialects that it is difficult to distinguish between them. The dialect is also prevalent in the rice growing area of Mwea. The unmistakable tonal patterns of the Gichũgũ dialect (which sounds like
Meru Meru may refer to: Geography Kenya * Meru, Kenya, a city in Meru County, Kenya ** Meru County, created by the merger of *** Meru Central District *** Meru North District *** Meru South District * Meru National Park, a Kenyan wildlife park T ...
or Embu, sister languages to Kikuyu) can be heard in the
coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...
-growing areas of
Kianyaga Kianyaga is a small town in Kenya's Central Province. It is the district headquarters for the Kirinyaga East district, in Central Province. Kianyaga once used to be the divisional headquarters for Gichugu Gichugu is a settlement in Kenya ...
, Gĩthũre, Kathũngũri, Marigiti. The
Gichugu Gichugu is a settlement in Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , ...
switch easily to other Kikuyu dialects in conversation with the rest of the Kikuyu.


Phonology

Symbols shown in parentheses are those used in the
orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...
.


Vowels


Consonants

The prenasalized consonants are often pronounced without prenasalization, and thus are often realized as .


Tones

Kikuyu has two level tones (high and low), a low-high rising tone, and
downstep Downstep is a phenomenon in tone languages in which if two syllables have the same tone (for example, both with a high tone or both with a low tone), the second syllable is lower in pitch than the first. Two main kinds of downstep can be distin ...
.


Grammar

The canonical word order of Gĩkũyũ is SVO ( subject–verb–object). It uses
prepositions Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
rather than postpositions, and
adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...
s follow
noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
s.


Alphabet

Kikuyu is written in a Latin alphabet. It does not use the letters ''l f p q s v x z'', and adds the letters ''ĩ'' and ''ũ''. The Kikuyu alphabet is: :a b c d e g h i ĩ j k m n o r t u ũ w y Some sounds are represented by digraphs such as ng for the velar nasal .


Sample phrases


Literature

There is notable literature written in the Kikuyu language. For instance,
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English. He has been described as having been "considered East Africa’s leading novelist". His wo ...
's ''Mũrogi wa Kagogo'' (''
Wizard of the Crow ''Wizard of the Crow'' ( Gikuyu: ''Mũrogi wa Kagogo'') is a 2006 novel written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and translated from the original Kikuyu into English by the author, his first novel in more than 20 years. The story is set in the imaginary F ...
'') is the longest known book written in Kikuyu. Other authors writing in Kikuyu are Gatua wa Mbũgwa and Waithĩra wa Mbuthia. Mbuthia has published various works in different genres—essays, poetry, children stories and translations—in Kikuyu. The late Wahome Mutahi also sometimes wrote in Kikuyu. Also, Gakaara wa Wanjaũ wrote his popular book, Mau Mau Author in Detention, which won a
Noma Award The Noma Prizes were established by Shoichi Noma, or in his honor. More than one award is conventionally identified as the ''Noma Prize''. Noma was the former head of Kodansha, the Japanese publishing and bookselling company. Kodansha is Japan' ...
in 1984.


In popular culture

In the 1983
movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
'' Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi'', the character
Nien Nunb Nien Nunb is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Introduced in the 1983 film ''Return of the Jedi'', he was brought to life both as a puppet and a costumed actor during the film. Nunb was puppeteered by Mike Quinn and was portr ...
speaks in the Kikuyu language.


References


Bibliography

* Armstrong, Lilias E. 1967. ''The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu''. London: Published for the International African Institute by Dawsons of Pall Mall. *Barlow, A. Ruffell and T. G. Benson. 1975. ''English-Kikuyu Dictionary''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. *Barlow, A. Ruffell. 1951. ''Studies in Kikuyu Grammar and Idiom''. Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, *Benson, T. G. 1964. ''Kikuyu–English Dictionary''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. *Gecaga B. M. and Kirkaldy-Willis W.H. 1953. ''English–Kikuyu, Kikuyu–English Vocabulary''. Nairobi: The Eagle Press. *Leakey L. S. B. 1989. ''First Lessons in Kikuyu''. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau. *Mugane John 1997. ''A Paradigmatic Grammar of Gikuyu''. Stanford, California: CSLI publications.


External links

*Robert Englebretson (ed.)
"A Basic Sketch Grammar of Gĩkũyũ"
2015.

at ''Omniglot''
African Language Resources''Muigwithania 2.0 – First Kikuyu Newspaper revived on the Internet''PanAfrican L10n page on GikuyuGikuyu blogGĩkũyũ Language Page
(Wiki Created by Linguistic Field Methods Course at UMass Amherst)
''First Course in Kikuyu''
(vol. 1; see ref. for v2 & v3)
My First Gikuyu Dictionary
{{Authority control Kikuyu Northeast Bantu languages Subject–verb–object languages Languages of Kenya