Kikuyu (language)
Kikuyu | ||
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Spoken in |
Kenya | |
speaker | 8 million (2005) | |
Linguistic classification |
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Official status | ||
Official language in | - | |
Language codes | ||
ISO 639 -1 |
ki |
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ISO 639 -2 |
kik |
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ISO 639-3 |
Kikuyu (own name: Gĩkũyũ , pronunciation: [ ɣekojo ]) is a Bantu language that is widespread in Kenya and is spoken by around 5.5 million people.
Kikuyu is spoken in the area between Nyeri and Nairobi . Kikuyu is one of the five languages of the Thagichu language group spoken in the area from Kenya to Tanzania . The Kikuyu language includes several dialects that are mutually understandable, including Ndia , South Kikuyu , Mathira , Gichugu, and North Kikuyu . The language is very similar in vocabulary to the Embu and Kamba , which belong to the same Guthrie group E20. The writer and candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o writes his novels in Kikuyu.
Web links
- Ethnologue entry
- Gĩkũyũ in the Language Museum
- lang.nalrc.wisc.edu (PDF file; 561 kB)