Kiga (also called ''Rukiga'', ''Ruchiga'', or ''Chiga'') is a
Great Lakes Bantu language
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' ...
of the
Kiga people (''Bakiga''). Kiga is a similar and partially mutually intelligible with the
Nkore language
Nkore (also called Nkole, Nyankore, Nyankole, Orunyankore, Orunyankole, Runyankore and Runyankole) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken by the Nkole people, Nkore ("Banyankore") of south-western Uganda in the former province of Ankole, as ...
. It was first written in the second half of the 19th century.
Kiga is largely spoken in the ancient Kigezi region which includes about 5 districts, namely
Rubanda
Rubanda is a town in the extreme southwest of the Western Region, Uganda, Western Region of Uganda. It serves as the commercial, political and administrative center of Rubanda District.
Location
Rubanda is located approximately , by road, west of ...
,
Rukiga,
Kabale,
Kanungu and some parts of
Rukungiri
Rukungiri is a town in Rukungiri District of the Western Region of Uganda. It is the site of the district headquarters.
Location
Rukungiri is approximately , by road, north of Kabale, the largest city in the Kigezi sub-region. This is about , ...
.
As of 2021, Kiga is spoken natively by about 1.3 million people in Uganda.
Kiga is so similar to Nkore (84%–94% lexical similarity
) that some argue they are
dialects of the same language, called
Nkore-Kiga by
Charles Taylor.
Phonology
* Sounds /i, u/ can also range to
, ʊwhen short or lax.
* /a/ can range from a central
to a back
sound.
* /r/ can also be heard as a glide
in free variation.
* /b/ can be heard as
in intervocalic positions.
Orthography
* a -
* b -
* ch/c -
͡ʃ* d -
* e -
* f -
* g -
/gʲ* h -
* i -
* j -
͡ʒ* k -
/kʲ* m -
* n -
* ny -
* o -
* p -
* r -
* s -
* t -
* ts -
͡s* u -
* v -
* w -
* y -
* z -
D and P are only used in foreign names and loanwords.
G and K are palatalised before I.
* ai -
i̯
The voiced palatal approximant, or yod, is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic n ...
* ei -
i̯* gy -
* ky -
* mp -
p* mw -
w* nd -
d* ng -
* oi -
i̯* sh -
ref>
Grammar
In common with other
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 Nationali ...
languages, Kiga has a noun class system in which prefixes on nouns mark membership of one of the noun genders. Pronouns, adjectives, and verbs reflect the noun gender of the nominal they refer to. Some examples of noun classes:
* mu – person (singular), e.g. ''omukiga'' = inhabitant of
Kigezi land
* ru – language, e.g. ''Rukiga'' = language of the Kiga
* ba – people, e.g. ''Bakiga'' = The Kiga people
* ki – customs or traditions, e.g. ''kikiga'', (sometimes spelled ''Kichiga''), describes religious tradition common to the Kiga people. Sometimes the people are called 'Chiga' by people misunderstanding the linguistic rules in relation to the prefixes.
The sound is not distinctive in Rukiga. The letter "r" is used instead.
See also
*
Runyakitara language
*
Nkore-Kiga
References
Languages of Uganda
Nyoro-Ganda languages
{{Bantu-lang-stub