Consonants[]
The table below gives the consonants of Kinyarwanda.
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | (ŋ) | ||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p1 | t | c | k | |||
| voiced | (b) | d | ɟ | g | ||||
| Affricate | voiceless | p͡f | t͡s | t͡ʃ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | f | s | ʃ | ç | x | h |
| voiced | β | v | z | ʒ | ʝ | ɣ | ||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||||
| Rhotic | ⱱ̟ | ⱱ | ɾ | |||||
- /p/ is only found in loanwords.
- Consonants in parentheses are allophones.
Vowels[]
The table below gives the vowel sounds of Kinyarwanda.
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| unr. | rnd. | ||
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Close-mid | ɪ ɪː | ʊ ʊː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː | ʌ ʌː | ɔ ɔː |
| Near-open | æ æː | ||
| Open | a aː | ɑ ɑː | ɒ ɒː |
Tone[]
Kinyarwanda is a tonal language. Like many Bantu languages, it has a two-way contrast between high and low tones (low-tone syllables may be analyzed as toneless). The realization of tones in Kinyarwanda is influenced by a complex set of phonological rules.
Orthography[]
| Letter(s) | a | ä | æ | b | c | cy | d | e | ə | ɛ | f | g | ɣ | h | i | j | jy | k | l | m | n | ny | o | ɔ | p | pf | q | r | s | ʃ | t | ts | u | ʊ | v | ʌ | w | x | y | z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | a, aː | ɑ, ɒ | æ | β, b | t͡ʃ | c | d | e, eː | ɪ | ɛ | f | g, ɟ | ɣ | h | i, iː | ʒ | ɟ | k, c | ⱱ | m | n, ŋ | ɲ | o, oː | ɔ | p | p͡f | ɸ | ɾ | s | ʃ | t | t͡s | u, uː | ʊ | v | ʌ | w | x | j | z |
Except in a few morphological contexts, the sequences 'ki' and 'ke' may be pronounced interchangeably as [ki] and [ke] or [ci] and [ce] according to speaker's preference.
The letters 'a', 'e', or 'i' at the end of a word followed by a word starting with a vowel often follows a pattern of omission (observed in the following excerpt of the Rwandan anthem) in common speech, though the orthography remains the same. For example, Reka tukurate tukuvuge ibigwi wowe utubumbiye hamwe twese Abanyarwanda uko watubyaye berwa, sugira, singizwa iteka. would be pronounced as "Reka tukurate tukuvug' ibigwi wow' utubumiye hamwe twes' abanyarwand' uko watubyaye berwa, sugira singizw' iteka."
In the colloquial language, there are some discrepancies from orthographic Cw and Cy. Specifically, rw (as in Rwanda) is often pronounced [ɾɡw]. The differences are the following:
Orthog. Pron. pw [pk] bw [bɡ] tw [tkw] dw [dɡw] mw [mŋ] nw [nŋw] fw [fk] vw [vɡ] sw [skw] zw [zɡw] shw [ʃkw] jw [ʒɡw] pfw [p͡fk] tsw [t͡skw] cw [t͡ʃkw] rw [ɾɡw] py [pc] by [bɟ] ty [tc] dy [dɟ] my [mɲ] sy [sc] ry [ɾɟ]
Note that these are all sequences; [bɡ], for example, is not labio-velar [ɡ͡b]. Even when Rwanda is pronounced /ɾgwanda/, the onset is a sequence, not a labialized [ɾʷ].