View source for Kikuyu language

{{Short description|Bantu language in Kenya}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Expand Portuguese|língua quicuia|date=2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name=Kikuyu
| nativename=Gĩgĩkũyũ
| pronunciation={{IPA|ki|ɣēkōjó|}}
| states= [[Kenya]]
| region=[[Central Province (Kenya)|Central Province]]
| ethnicity=[[Kikuyu people|Agĩkũyũ]]
| speakers={{sigfig|6.623000|2}} million
| date=2009 census
| ref=e18
| familycolor=Niger-Congo
| fam2=[[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3=[[Volta–Congo languages|Volta–Congo]]
| fam4=[[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5=[[Bantoid]]
| fam6=[[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7=[[Bantu languages|Bantu]]
| fam8=[[Northeast Bantu]]
| fam9=[[Thagiicu languages|Thagiicu]]
| fam10=Kikuyu–[[Sonjo language|Temi]]
| dia1=Gichugu
| dia2=Mathira
| dia3=Ndia
| dia4=Northern Gikuyu
| dia5=Southern Gikuyu
| iso1=ki
| iso2=kik
| iso3=kik
| guthrie=E.51
| notice=IPA
| glotto=kiku1240
| glottorefname=Kikuyu
| script={{Plainlist}}
* [[Latin script]]
* Gicandi script
{{Endplainlist}}
}}
{{Infobox Bantu name|'''Mũ'''Gĩkũyũ |'''A'''Gĩkũyũ|'''Gĩ'''Gĩkũyũ|'''Bũrũrĩ Wa''' Gĩkũyũ}}

'''Kikuyu''' or '''Gikuyu''' ({{langx|ki|Gĩkũyũ|link=no}} {{IPA|ki|ɣēkōjó|}}) (also known as Gĩgĩkũyũ) is a [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] language spoken by the [[Kikuyu people|Gĩkũyũ]] (''Agĩkũyũ'') of [[Kenya]]. Kikuyu is mainly spoken in the area between [[Nyeri]], [[Kiambu County|Kiambu]], [[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''.

==Phonology==
Symbols shown in angle brackets replace the [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA symbols]] which are not in the [[orthography]].

===Vowels===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[High vowel|High]]
| {{IPA link|i}}
|
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid-high vowel|Mid-high]]
| {{IPA link|e}} 〈ĩ〉
|
| {{IPA link|o}} 〈ũ〉
|-
! [[Mid-low vowel|Mid-low]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}} 〈e〉
|
| {{IPA link|ɔ}} 〈o〉
|-
! [[Low vowel|Low]]
|
| {{IPA link|a}}
|
|}

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br>[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}} 〈ny〉
| {{IPA link|ŋ}} 〈ng'〉
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! {{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]] [[prenasalized consonant|prenasalised]]}}
| {{IPA link|ᵐb}} 〈mb〉
| {{IPA link|ⁿd}} 〈nd〉
|
| {{IPA link|ᵑɡ}} 〈ng〉
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|ᶮdʒ}} 〈nj〉
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|ʃ}} 〈c〉
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|β}} 〈b〉
| {{IPA link|ð}} 〈th〉
|
| {{IPA link|ɣ}} 〈g〉
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
|
| {{IPA link|ɾ}} 〈r〉
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|j}} 〈y〉
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|}

The prenasalised consonants are often pronounced without prenasalisation, and thus {{IPA|/ᵐb ⁿd ᶮdʒ ᵑɡ/}} are often realised as {{IPA|[b d dʒ ɡ]}}.

===Tones===
Kikuyu has two level tones (high and low), a low-high rising tone, and [[downstep]].<ref>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.</ref>

==Grammar==
Gĩkũyũ has [[subject–verb–object word order]]. It uses [[prepositions]] rather than postpositions.<ref>[http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_kik Wals.info]</ref> Nouns are followed by [[possessive]] and [[demonstrative]] pronouns, which can coexist in that order, and subsequently [[adjectives]], [[Quantifier (linguistics)|quantifiers]], and [[Numeral (linguistics)|numerals]], which have no order among themselves.<ref name="sketch" />

===Noun classes===
Gĩkũyũ has 17 [[noun class]]es.

Class 1 (prefix mũ-) comprises [[animate]]/human nouns and is singular, while class 2 (prefix a-) comprises animate/human nouns but is plural. [[Kinship]] terms and some other words belong to these classes but take no prefixes.

Class 3 (prefix mũ-) comprises nature/landscape words and others that are not semantically related, and is singular. Class 4 (prefix mĩ-) comprises the same words, but is plural.

Class 5 (prefix rĩ- if stem is vowel initial, i- if consonant-initial) comprises plant/landscape words and others that do not fit the pattern, and is singular. Class 6 (prefix ma-) comprises the same words, but is plural. Occasionally, class 6 nouns have the prefix marĩ-, perhaps because the class 5 form is reanalyzed as the stem. Nouns of classes 1, 9, 11, 12, 14, and 15 can be pluralised with the class 6 form.

Class 7 (prefix gĩ- if stem is t, k, c, or th initial, kĩ- otherwise) is an [[augmentative]] class with some inherent, not especially augmented members. Class 8 (prefix ci- if stem is vowel initial, i- if consonant initial) is the same, but plural. These classes' prefixes can be used to augment nouns of other classes.

Class 9 comprises most animals, most [[loanwords]], a few body parts, and semantically unrelated others. Class 10 is the same, but plural. Because words of these classes begin with nasal or unnasalisable consonants, and lose their nasality when marked with a different class prefix, the proposed prefix is nasalisation. This prefix cannot always be applied to loanwords.

Class 11 (prefix rũ-) comprises long, thin, or string-like nouns, as well as others that do not fit the pattern. Its default plural is class 10, with occasional class 6 forms. It is hypothesized that if the prefix rũ- is added to a stem that already begins with rũ, the prefix is deleted. The class 6/11 plurals vary just as the Class 5/6 plurals do: the Class 6 prefix, ma-, attaches sometimes to the noun stem itself, and sometimes to the class 11 form.

Class 12 (prefix ga- if stem is t, k, c, or th initial, ka- otherwise) is a [[diminutive]] class with some inherent, not especially diminutive members. Class 13 (prefix tũ-) is the same, but plural. These classes' prefixes can be used to diminutise nouns of other classes.

Class 14 (null prefix) comprises abstract concepts and semantically unrelated others, and is pluralised by class 6.

Class 15 (prefix gũ- if stem is t, k, c, or th initial, kũ- otherwise) comprises ''only'' body parts and verbal [[infinitives]]—more semantically and syntactically motivated than other classes. It is pluralised, when possible, by class 6.

Class 16 (prefix ha-) is a [[definite]] [[locative]] class. Class 17 (prefix kũ-/gũ-) is an indefinite locative class. These classes can be singular or plural based on context.<ref name= sketch/>

===Adjectives and pronouns===
Adjectives [[Agreement (linguistics)|agree]] with the noun via adjective class prefixes (usually identical to the noun class prefixes). Other modifiers do so via agreement class prefixes, which are often simply the vowel of the noun class prefix. 

Personal [[pronouns]] may take the place of a noun or a noun phrase. Since person and noun class are marked on verbs, they are usually only used emphatically or in response to questions. Except for those of classes 3 and 14, the pronouns are formed by adding agreement class prefixes to the stem o.

The [[dependent]] pronoun - 'and/with X' - is formed by adding [[comitative]] [[preposition]] to the relevant personal pronouns.

The [[possessive]] pronoun is formed by adding the relevant possessive stem to the agreement class prefix of the possessed noun.

[[Relative pronouns]] are formed by adding the relevant agreement class prefix to the relative stem. 

[[Demonstrative]] pronouns come in [[distal]], [[proximal]], and [[Anaphora (linguistics)|anaphoric]] forms. Relative pronouns are written identically to distal demonstratives, but are distinguished by [[vowel length]] - the first syllable of a relative pronoun is short, while the first syllable of a distal demonstrative is long.

Adjectives are comparatively rare, and do not cover even every colour. Qualities are usually expressed instead as associative constructions, which connect two nouns or noun phrases where the first noun (head) is modified by the second. The associative is formed by prefixing the stem a with the agreement class prefix of the head noun. It can also denote possession, location, and ordinal numerals.<ref name="sketch" />

===Numbers===
Numerals 11-19 are formed with the construction 'ten and X'. The final numeral, if it inflects, agrees with the noun being counted. However, if the final numeral is 1, it agrees with the singular class of the noun being counted, because 1 is singular, even if the overall number being formed is not.<ref name ="sketch" />

===Verbs===
Verbs can be marked for [[Focus (linguistics)|focus]], noun class agreement, [[Affirmation and negation|negation]], reflexivity, reciprocality, causativity, intensive meanings, reversive meanings, applicative ([[valency (linguistics) |valency increasing]]) meanings, [[Grammatical tense|tense]], and [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]].{{clarification needed |reason=Which are derivational and which are inflectional? |date=April 2024 }} Tenses include past, present, or future; and remote, near, or current. Aspects include habitual/imperfective, completive, perfect, and progressive, which is unmarked. Sequential, a subtype of progressive, denotes events that occur in a sequence. There is also a marker for persistive events, which occur continuously until the time of speaking. Special subject agreement particles exist for 1st and 2nd person, the discourse participants, but subject agreement is otherwise based on noun class. A verb can exhibit noun class agreement for all arguments, but agrees less commonly with non-human nouns.

In addition to active and passive voices, there is a middle voice with an intermediate connotation.<ref name="sketch" />

==Alphabet==
Kikuyu is written in a Latin alphabet. It does not use the letters ''f  l  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'''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |url=http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/AfficheTableauOrtho2N.php?choixLangue=kikuyu |title=Langue : kikuyu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609171838/http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/AfficheTableauOrtho2N.php?choixLangue=kikuyu |archive-date=9 June 2020 |access-date=21 March 2009 }}</ref>

==Sample phrases==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! 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 ==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English<ref name="WorldLanguage">{{Cite web |title=Kikuyu Language Products |url=http://www.worldlanguage.com/Languages/Kikuyu.htm |website=WorldLanguage.com |access-date=21 December 2023 }}</ref>
! Kikuyu<ref name="WorldLanguage" />
|-
| 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<ref name="Kikuyuland">{{Cite web |last=Rwígí |first=Kúrí |date=17 December 2018 |title=MARŨA MA NGŨKŨ KŨRĨ RWĨGĨ |url=https://www.kikuyuland.com/marua-ma-nguku-kuri-rwigi/ |url-status=dead<!--expired certificate--> |website=Kikuyuland.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221052233/https://www.kikuyuland.com/marua-ma-nguku-kuri-rwigi/ |archive-date=21 December 2023|access-date=25 April 2024 }}</ref>
| Marũa Ma Ngũkũ Kũrĩ Rwĩgĩ<ref name="Kikuyuland" />
|}

==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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/13333403 |title=Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature |date=1986 |isbn=0-435-08016-4 |publisher=J. Currey |location=London |pages=24 |oclc=13333403 }}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
In the 1983 [[Film|movie]] ''[[Return of the Jedi|Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi]]'', the character [[Nien Nunb]] speaks in the Kikuyu language.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feldmann |first=Linda |date=28 July 1983 |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/0728/072823.html |title=In Kenya, Audiences Roar at Language in 'Jedi' Film |work=Christian Science Monitor |access-date=19 August 2024 |issn=0882-7729 }}</ref>

The 2023 song ''Mwaki'' by Brazilian DJ [[Zerb]] features a Kenyan artist, [[Sofiya Nzau]], singing in Kikuyu.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Bain |first=Katie |date=29 January 2024 |title=Zerb & Sofiya Nzau Star in Dazzling 'Mwaki' Video Shot in Kenya's Hells Gate National Park: Watch |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/zerb-sofiya-nzau-mwaki-music-video-1235591217/ |access-date=1 February 2024 |magazine=Billboard }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="sketch">{{cite journal |last1=Wa-Ngatho |first1=Wambũi Mũringo |last2=Englebretson |first2=Robert |date= |title=A Basic Sketch Grammar of Gĩkũyũ
|url=https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~reng/kik/sketch.pdf |journal=Rice Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=VI |issue=special |pages=36–70 |access-date=20 April 2024 }}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by3|from this source=yes}}</ref>

}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin}}
* [[Lilias Armstrong|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.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{InterWiki|code=ki}}
* Robert Englebretson (ed.), [http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~reng/kik/sketch.pdf "A Basic Sketch Grammar of Gĩkũyũ"], 2015.
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kikuyu.htm Gikuyu alphabet and pronunciation] at ''Omniglot''
* [http://www.muigwithania.com ''Muigwithania 2.0 – First Kikuyu Newspaper revived on the Internet'']
* [http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=A+First+Course+in+Kikuyu&searchtype=basic&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&objectId=0900019b8008e16e&accno=ED265733&_nfls=false ''First Course in Kikuyu''] (vol. 1; see ref. for v2 & v3)
* [http://ki.kasahorow.org/app/d My First Gikuyu Dictionary]

{{Languages of Kenya}}
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones E–H)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Kikuyu language| ]]
[[Category:Kikuyu]]
[[Category:Languages of Kenya]]
[[Category:Northeast Bantu languages]]
[[Category:Subject–verb–object languages]]