Spread of the Kinyarwanda language
Kinyarwanda (or simply "Rwandan") is the official language in Rwanda alongside English and French and is spoken 93% of the time. It is also spoken in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and in Uganda. Uganda has also recognized it as a minority language.Outside of Africa, Kinyarwanda is virtually non-existent. Within Africa, it is spoken by a total of around 26.1 million native speakers.
Development of the language from the Bantu peoples
Kinyarwanda is a Bantu language and belongs to the Niger-Congo language family. It is closely related to Kirundi, the main language of Burundi, and Giha, which is spoken in parts of Tanzania.The origens of Kinyarwanda can be traced back to the first centuries, when Bantu-speaking peoples from other parts of Central and West Africa migrated to what is now Rwanda. These peoples brought their languages and cultural traditions with them, which over time developed into what is known today as Kinyarwanda.
During the colonial period, particularly under Belgian rule, Kinyarwanda experienced both oppression and encouragement. While the colonial powers initially promoted the use of European languages in administration and education, they later began to use Kinyarwanda as a tool for education and administration, which promoted the standardization and spread of the language.
Kinyarwanda has a distinct morphological structure, characterized by a complex system of prefixes, suffixes and infixes that change the meaning and function of words. The language uses a tonal system in which the meaning of a word can be influenced by the pitch.
| Country | Region | Official language | Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rwanda | Eastern Africa | yes | 93.2 % | 13,287,000 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | Central Africa | no | 10.3 % | 11,255,000 |
| Uganda | Eastern Africa | no | 3.2 % | 1,600,000 |
Unless otherwise described in the text, this page is about native speakers — not the total number of speakers. How many people understand or speak Kinyarwanda as a subsequently learned language is not the subject of this page. Countries where native speakers make up only a few thousand, or even a few hundred people, or countries with a percentage well below 1% are unlikely to be listed here.
Official language, national language or lingua franca: explanation of frequently used terms