ID # 03456420-3
Gil Y. Ben-Or.
Advanced Phonology – Final Paper – Kinyarwanda
Language selected:
Kinyarwanda, also known as Rwanda/Rwandan.
Background:
Kinyarwanda is a tonal language which is the official language of all 3 ethnic groups living in Rwanda: Hutu, Tutsi & Twa. The language is spoken by about 12 million people.
Consonant Table:
Vowel Table:
| Vowels | |||
| Front | Central | Back | |
| High | i, i: | u, u: | |
| Mid | e, e: | o, o: | |
| Low | a, a: | ||
Syllabic Structure:
Kinyarwanda is confined to the basic CV/VC structure.
The last vowel in the final utterance (End of the sentence) position is always partially/entirely voiceless. When in final word position, the last vowel is voiced.
Words can be distinguished by tone high/low when low tone is considered unmarked.