lingvo.wikisort.org - Language

Kiga (also called Rukiga, Ruchiga, or Chiga) is a Great Lakes Bantu language of the Kiga people (Bakiga). Kiga is a similar and partially mutually intelligible with the Nkore language. It was first written in the second half of the 19th century. Kiga is largely spoken in the ancient Kigezi region which includes about 5 districts, namely Rubanda, Rukiga, Kabale, Kanungu and some parts of Rukungiri. As of 2021, Kiga is spoken natively by about 1.3 million people in Uganda.

Kiga
Chiga
Orukiga
Native to	Uganda, Rwanda
Ethnicity	Bakiga, Twa
Native speakers	1.6 million (2002 census)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu West Nyanza Rutara North Rutara Nkore-Kiga-Nyoro-Tooro Nkore-Kiga Kiga
Standard forms	Runyakitara
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cgg
Glottolog	chig1238
Guthrie code	JE.14[2]
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Kiga is so similar to Nkore (84%–94% lexical similarity[3]) that some argue they are dialects of the same language, called Nkore-Kiga by Charles Taylor.[4]

Phonology

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ		o
Open		a

• Sounds /i, u/ can also range to [ɪ, ʊ] when short or lax.
• /a/ can range from a central [ä] to a back [ɑ] sound.

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post-alv./ 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

• /r/ can also be heard as a glide [ɹ] in free variation.
• /b/ can be heard as [ʋ] in intervocalic positions.[5]

Orthography

• a - [a]
• b - [b]
• ch/c - [t͡ʃ]
• d - [d]
• e - [ɛ]
• f - [f]
• g - [g/gʲ]
• h - [h]
• i - [i]
• j - [d͡ʒ]
• k - [k/kʲ]
• m - [m]
• n - [n]
• ny - [ɲ]
• o - [ɔ]
• p - [p]
• r - [r]
• s - [s]
• t - [t]
• ts - [t͡s]
• u - [u]
• v - [v]
• w - [w]
• y - [j]
• z - [z]

D and P are only used in foreign names and loanwords.

G and K are palatalised before I.

• ai - [ai̯]
• ei - [ɛi̯]
• gy - [ɟ]
• ky - [c]
• mp - [ᵐp]
• mw - [ᵐw]
• nd - [ⁿd]
• ng - [ŋ]
• oi - [ɔi̯]
• sh - [ʃ][6]

Grammar

In common with other Bantu languages, Kiga has a noun class system in which prefixes on nouns mark membership of one of the noun genders. Pronouns, adjectives, and verbs reflect the noun gender of the nominal they refer to. Some examples of noun classes:

• mu – person (singular), e.g. omukiga = inhabitant of Kigezi land
• ru – language, e.g. Rukiga = language of the Kiga
• ba – people, e.g. Bakiga = The Kiga people
• ki – customs or traditions, e.g. kikiga, (sometimes spelled Kichiga), describes religious tradition common to the Kiga people. Sometimes the people are called 'Chiga' by people misunderstanding the linguistic rules in relation to the prefixes.

The sound [l] is not distinctive in Rukiga. The letter "r" is used instead.

See also

• Runyakitara language
• Nkore-Kiga

References

На других языках

---

- [en] Kiga language

---

[fr] Kiga (langue)

Le kiga, aussi appelé rukiga ou chiga, est une langue bantoue parlée par la population kiga en Ouganda. Depuis les années 1990, le gouvernement ougandais promeut le kitara, une langue basée sur le kiga et d’autres langues proches (nyoro, nkore, toro).

---

---