Social:Kikuyu language

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Short description: Bantu language in Kenya
Kikuyu
Gĩgĩkũyũ
Pronunciationki
Native toKenya
RegionCentral Province
EthnicityAgĩkũyũ
Native speakers
6.6 million (2009 census)[1]
Niger–Congo
Dialects
  • Gichugu
  • Mathira
  • Ndia
  • Northern Gikuyu
  • Southern Gikuyu
Language codes
ISO 639-1ki
ISO 639-1kik
ISO 639-3kik
Glottologkiku1240[3]
E.51[4]
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Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gikuyu: Gĩkũyũ ki) (also known as Gĩgĩkũyũ) is a Bantu language spoken by the Gĩkũyũ (Agĩkũyũ) of Kenya. Kikuyu is mainly spoken in the area between Nyeri, Nairobi and Nakuru. The Kikuyu people usually identify their lands by the surrounding mountain ranges in Central Kenya, including Mount Kenya, which they call Kĩrĩnyaga.

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 and Kiambu.

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 (same as in Mũrang'a) and will use the "s" sound instead (Kikuyu has no letter S), hence the pronunciation of "Gĩcũgũ" as opposed to "Gĩchũgũ". To hear Ndia being spoken, one needs to be in Kerugoya, the largest town in Kirinyaga County. Other home towns for the Ndia, where "purer" forms of the dialect are spoken, are located in the tea-growing areas of Kagumo, Baricho, Kagio, and the Kangaita hills. Lower down the slopes is Kutus, 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 or Embu, sister languages to Kikuyu) can be heard in the coffee-growing areas of Kianyaga, Gĩthũre, Kathũngũri, Marigiti. The Gichugu 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.

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i u
Mid-high e (ĩ) o (ũ)
Mid-low ɛ (e) ɔ (o)
Low a

Consonants

Bilabial Dental/
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless t (t) k (k)
voiced prenasalised ᵐb (mb) ⁿd (nd) ᵑɡ (ng)
Affricate ᶮdʒ (nj)
Nasal m (m) n (n) ɲ (ny) ŋ (ng')
Fricative voiceless ʃ (c) h (h)
voiced β (b) ð (th) ɣ (g)
Liquid ɾ (r)
Approximant j (y) w (w)

The prenasalized consonants are often pronounced without prenasalization, and thus /ᵐb ⁿd ᶮdʒ ᵑɡ/ are often realized as [b d dʒ ɡ].

Tones

Kikuyu has two level tones (high and low), a low-high rising tone, and downstep.[5]

Grammar

The canonical word order of Gĩkũyũ is SVO (subject–verb–object). It uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and adjectives follow nouns.[6]

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[7]

Some sounds are represented by digraphs such as ng for the velar nasal /ŋ/.

Sample phrases

English Gĩkũyũ
How are you Ũhoro waku or kũhana atĩa?
Give me water He maaĩ
How are you doing? Ũrĩ mwega? or Wĩ mwega
I am hungry Ndĩ mũhũtu
Help me Ndeithia
I am good Ndĩ mwega
Are you a friend? Wĩ mũrata?
Bye, be blessed Tigwo na wega/Tigwo na thaayũ
I love you Nĩngwendete.
Come here Ũka haha
I will phone you Nĩngũkũhũrĩra thimũ
I give thanks Nĩndacokia ngatho
I'm blessed Ndĩĩ mũrathime
Give me money He mbeca / He mbia
Stop nonsense Tiga wana / tiga ũrimũ
Don't laugh Ndũgatheke
You are learned Wĩ mũthomu
Thank you Thengiũ / Nĩ wega / Nĩ ngaatho
Go in peace Thiĩ na thaayũ
Day Mũthenya
Night Ũtukũ
God Ngai
Ancestral Spirits Ngomi

Sample texts

English[8] Kikuyu[8]
The Gikuyu believe in God

the creator of heaven and earth,

the giver of all things.

Gikuyu ni gitikitie Ngai

mumbi wa Iguru na Thi na muheani wa indo ciothe

Letter from the Hen to the Eagle[9] MarŪa Ma NgŪkŪ KŪrĪ RwĪgĪ[9]
My father is very strict

He had warned me about marrying you

When he sees me back home, he is going to be furious

And when that happens, he is uncontrollable

You will have to relocate

Young man[10]

Naniguo muthee akoragwo mwaki

Naniajirite digakuhikie

Anyona muciì nìekurakara

Nake arakara dahorekaga

Noùùthamire

Mwanake[10]

Literature

There is notable literature written in the Kikuyu language. For instance, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's Mũrogi wa Kagogo (Wizard of the Crow) 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 in 1984.[11]

In popular culture

In the 1983 movie Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the character Nien Nunb speaks in the Kikuyu language.[12]

The 2023 song, Mwaki, by the Brazilian DJ, Zerb [pt], features the Kenyan artist, Sofiya Nzau, singing in Kikuyu.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Kikuyu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/giku1234
  3. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "Kikuyu". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/kiku1240. 
  4. ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  5. ↑ Kevin C. Ford, 1975. "The tones of nouns in Kikuyu," Studies in African Linguistics 6, 49–64; G.N. Clements & Kevin C. Ford, 1979, "Kikuyu Tone Shift and its Synchronic Consequences", Linguistic Inquiry 10.2, 179–210.
  6. ↑ Wals.info
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/AfficheTableauOrtho2N.php?choixLangue=kikuyu. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Kikuyu language products". http://www.worldlanguage.com/Languages/Kikuyu.htm. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "MARŪA MA NGŪKŪ KŪRĪ RWĪGĪ". https://www.kikuyuland.com/marua-ma-nguku-kuri-rwigi/. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Template:Cite Instagram
  11. ↑ Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo (1986). Decolonising the mind : the politics of language in African literature. London. pp. 24. ISBN 0-435-08016-4. OCLC 13333403. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/13333403. 
  12. ↑ Feldmann, Compiled from Wire Service Dispatches with Analysis from Monitor Correspondents Around the World, Edited by Linda (28 July 1983). "In Kenya, audiences roar at language in 'Jedi' film". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/0728/072823.html. 
  13. ↑ Bain, Katie (2024-01-29). "Zerb & Sofiya Nzau Star in Dazzling ‘Mwaki’ Video Shot in Kenya’s Hells Gate National Park: Watch" (in en-US). https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/zerb-sofiya-nzau-mwaki-music-video-1235591217/. 

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.
  • Kihara, Claudius P. "Middle and Antipassive Voices in Gĩkũyũ (E51)." Arusha Working Papers in African Linguistics, 6(1): 17-39.
  • 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



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