Burundi traditionally had two
official language
An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
s:
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. K ...
and
French.
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
became the third official language of the country in 2014. Of these, only Kirundi is spoken by the vast majority of the population. It is recognised as the
national language
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...
by the
Burundian constitution of 2005.
Burundi is unusual among African states in having a single indigenous language shared by its entire population. In one estimate, 98 percent of Burundians speak Kirundi.
Under
Belgian colonial rule (1919–62), Kirundi was taught whereas under
German rule (1894–1916)
Swahili had been encouraged.
[ In recent years, the Burundian government has promoted the use of Kirundi language as way to unify the country's different ethnic groups.][
The country is considered part of '' Francophonie''. As a legacy of Belgian colonial rule, French has an important role in government, business, and the educated classes but only between 3 and 10 percent of the population speak the language fluently.][ Burundian vernacular French also frequently incorporates ]loanword
A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...
s from Kirundi, Lingala
Lingala (Ngala) (Lingala: ''Lingála'') is a Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser degree in ...
and other languages.[ French is spoken by a significant minority and is spoken mainly as a ]second language
A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...
, as a French pidgin
A French creole, or French-based creole language, is a creole for which French is the lexifier. Most often this lexifier is not modern French but rather a 17th- or 18th-century koiné of French from Paris, the French Atlantic harbors, and the ...
, or by foreign residents of the country. English was adopted as part of moves towards regional integration with the East African Community
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burun ...
after 2007 but has little effective presence in the country.Great Lakes region
The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...
.[ It is especially used in commerce and in connection with the country's Muslim minority or with immigration from elsewhere in East Africa.][
]
See also
* Culture of Burundi
* Languages of Rwanda
References
Further reading
*
External links
Ethnologue listing of Burundi languages
{{Languages of Africa