Kirundi
| Rundi | |
|---|---|
| Ikirundi | |
| Native to | Burundi |
| Ethnicity | Hutu Tutsi Twa Ganwa |
Native speakers | 13 million (2021) |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Burundi |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | rn Rundi |
| ISO 639-2 | run Rundi |
| ISO 639-3 | run Rundi |
| Glottolog | rund1242 Rundirund1241 Rundi-Kitwa |
JD.62 | |
| Person | Umurundi |
|---|---|
| People | Abarundi |
| Language | Ikirundi |
| Country | u Burundi |
Kirundi (/kɪˈrʊndi, -ˈrʌn-/), also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language and the national language of Burundi. It is mutually intelligible with Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda, and the two form parts of the Rwanda-Rundi dialect continuum spoken in Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Kenya.
Kirundi is natively spoken by the Hutu (including the Bakiga), Tutsi, Twa, and the Hima people; other related ethnicities have also adopted Kirundi as their mother tongue. Neighbouring dialects of Kirundi are mutually intelligible with Ha, a language spoken in western Tanzania.
Kirundi is one of the languages where Meeussen's rule, a rule describing a certain pattern of tonal change in Bantu languages, is active.
In 2020, the Rundi Academy was established to help standardize and promote Kirundi.