Kikuyu
Gĩgĩkũyũ
Pronunciation[ɣēkōjó]
Native toKenya
RegionCentral Province
EthnicityAgĩkũyũ
Native speakers
6.6 million (2009 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Gichugu
  • Mathira
  • Ndia
  • Northern Gikuyu
  • Southern Gikuyu
Language codes
ISO 639-1ki
ISO 639-2kik
ISO 639-3kik
Glottologkiku1240
E.51[3]
PersonMũGĩkũyũ
PeopleAGĩkũyũ
LanguageGĩGĩkũyũ
CountryBũrũrĩ Wa Gĩkũyũ

Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gikuyu: Gĩkũyũ [ɣēkōjó]) (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.[4]

Grammar

The canonical word order of Gĩkũyũ is SVO (subject–verb–object). It uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and adjectives follow nouns.[5]

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[6]

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

Sample phrases

EnglishGĩkũyũ
How are youŨhoro waku or kũhana atĩa?
Give me waterHe maaĩ
How are you doing?Ũrĩ mwega? or Wĩ mwega
I am hungryNdĩ mũhũtu
Help meNdeithia
I am goodNdĩ mwega
Are you a friend?Wĩ mũrata?
Bye, be blessedTigwo na wega/Tigwo na thaayũ
I love youNĩngwendete.
Come hereŨka haha
I will phone youNĩngũkũhũrĩra thimũ
I give thanksNĩndacokia ngatho
I'm blessedNdĩĩ mũrathime
Give me moneyHe mbeca / He mbia
Stop nonsenseTiga wana / tiga ũrimũ
Don't laughNdũgatheke
You are learnedWĩ mũthomu
Thank youThengiũ / Nĩ wega / Nĩ ngaatho
Go in peace Thiĩ na thaayũ
DayMũthenya
NightŨtukũ
GodNgai
Ancestral Spirits Ngomi

Sample texts

English[7] Kikuyu[7]
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[8] MarŪa Ma NgŪkŪ KŪrĪ RwĪgĪ[8]

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.[9]

In the 1983 movie Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the character Nien Nunb speaks in the Kikuyu language.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Kikuyu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/giku1234
  3. ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ Wals.info
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. 1 2 "Kikuyu language products". www.worldlanguage.com. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  8. 1 2 "MARŪA MA NGŪKŪ KŪRĪ RWĪGĪ".
  9. ↑ Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo (1986). Decolonising the mind : the politics of language in African literature. London. p. 24. ISBN 0-435-08016-4. OCLC 13333403.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ↑ 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. Retrieved 24 June 2017. {{cite news}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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.
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