| Nkore | |
|---|---|
| Orunyankore | |
| Native to | Uganda |
| Region | Ankole |
| Ethnicity | Banyankore |
Native speakers | 3.4 million (2014 census)[1] |
Standard forms | |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | nyn |
| ISO 639-3 | nyn |
| Glottolog | nyan1307 |
JE.13[2] | |
| Glottopedia | Runyankore[3] |
Nkore (also calledNkole,Nyankore,Nyankole,Orunyankore,Orunyankole,Runyankore andRunyankole) is aBantu language spoken by theNkore ("Banyankore") of south-westernUganda in the former province ofAnkole, as well as inTanzania, theDR Congo,Rwanda andBurundi.[4]
Runyankole is mainly spoken in theMbarara,Bushenyi,Ntungamo,Kiruhura,Ibanda,Isingiro,Rukungiri,Buhweju,Mitooma,Sheema,Rubirizi and parts of Kitagwenda districts.
There is a brief description and teaching guide for this language, written byCharles V. Taylor in the 1950s, and an adequate dictionary in print. Whilst this language is spoken by almost all the Ugandans in the region, most also speak English, especially in the towns. (English is one of Uganda's two official languages, and the language taught in schools.)
Nkore is so similar to Kiga (84–94 percent lexical similarity[5]) that some argue they aredialects of the same language, a language calledNkore-Kiga by Taylor.[4]
Runyankore has a five-vowel system:[4]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | ||
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | g | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | ||
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | ||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||
D and P are only used in the digraphsND andMP and in loanwords.
G and K are [d͡ʒ] and [t͡ʃ] before I, [k] and [g] elsewhere.
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The greetingAgandi, implying, "How are you?" but literally meaning "other news!", can be replied withNi marungi, which literally means "good news!".
The proper greetings areOraire ota? orOsiibire ota?, literally translated "How was your night?" and "How was your day?". "Good night" isOraare gye and "Good day" isOsiibe gye.
Here are a few names one might use in a greeting:
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Oraire ota (orei-rota) Replies: I'm fine Ndaire gye (ndei-re-jeh) or Ndyaho (indi-aho)
Oraire gye? (orei-reh-jeh) Reply: Yes, yourself?Yego, shan’iwe
Osiibire ota (o-see-bee-rota) Replies: Nsiibire gye (insi-bi-reje)
Osiibire gye (Osi birejge) Replies: Yes- Yego (yegg-oh) or nsiibire gye
Waasiiba ota (wasib-wota) Reply: Fine, good, I've spent it well – Naasiiba gye (nasi-baje)
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
a banyankore are bantu speaking group of people from South western Uganda and they speak Runyankore with (ntu) (aba) like akantu, ekintu, omuntu, abantu. Akantu means thing in prural, ekintu means something big, omuntu means a person, abantu means people same as in Zulu language of South Africa
