Kirundi is natively spoken by theHutu, includingBakiga and other related ethnicities, as well asTutsi,Twa andHima among others have adopted the language. Neighbouring dialects of Kirundi aremutually intelligible withHa, a language spoken in westernTanzania.
Kirundi is one of the languages whereMeeussen'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.[4]
The Kirundi text on the back of the truck warns cyclists not to hold on to it.
Although the literature on Rundi agrees on 5 vowels, the number of consonants can vary anywhere from 19 to 26 consonants.[5] The table below is compiled from a survey of academic acceptance of Rundi consonants.[6]
Rundi is atonal language. There are two essential tones in Rundi: high and low (or H and L). Since Rundi has 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. When a long vowel changes from a high tone to a low tone, it is marked as a falling tone.[8]
Rundi is often used in phonology to illustrate examples ofMeeussen's rule[9][10] In addition, it has been proposed that tones can shift by a metrical or rhythmic structure. Some authors have expanded these more complex features of the tonal system noting that such properties are highly unusual for a tone system.[11]
Syllable structure in Rundi is considered to be CV, that is having no clusters, no coda consonants, and no complex vowel nuclei. It has been proposed that sequences that are CVV in the surface realization are actually CV in the underlyingdeep structure, with the consonant coalescing with the first vowel.[12]
Rundi has been shown to have properties ofconsonant harmony particularly when it comes to sibilants. Meeussen described this harmony in his essay and it is investigated further by others.[13] One example of this harmony is triggered by/ʃ/ and/ʒ/ and targets the set of/s/ and/z/ in preceding adjacent stem syllables.
Kirundi was recognized anofficial language in Burundi by the 1962Constitution of the Kingdom of Burundi. In accordance with the constitution, many Burundian government orders, especially those printed in theBulletin Officiel du Burundi from 1962 to 1963, were written in both French and Kirundi. After the constitution was suspended in 1966, Kirundi remained ade facto official language in the country, though its use in government documents declined.[14] In 1972 Kirundi was adopted as the official language of instruction in Burundian primary schools.[15]
de Samie, Thierry (2009).Dictionnaire français-kirundi (2nd ed.). Paris: L'Harmattan.ISBN978-2-296-09185-6.
Goldsmith, John; Sabimana, Firmard (1989)."The Kirundi Verb"(PDF).Modèles en tonologie: kirundi et kinyarwanda. Paris: Editions du CNRS.ISBN9782222043232.Archived(PDF) from the original on 2022-11-24.
Meeussen, A. E. (1959).Essai de grammaire Rundi. Annales du Musée Royal du Congo Belge, Série Sciences Humaines – Linguistique. Vol. 24. Tervuren.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Ntihirageza, J. (1993).Kirundi Palatization and Sibilant Harmony: Implications for Feature Geometry (Master thesis). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University.
Philippson, Gérard (1998). "Tone reduction vs. metrical attraction in the evolution of Eastern Bantu tone systems". In Hyman, Larry M.; Kisseberth, Charles W. (eds.).Theoretical Aspects of Bantu Tone. Cambridge University Press. pp. 315–329.ISBN1575860953.
