Runyankole language
| Nkore | |
|---|---|
| Runyankore | |
| Native to | Uganda |
|
Native speakers
|
2.3 million (2002) |
|
Niger–Congo
|
|
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Standard forms
|
|
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | nyan1307 |
JE.13 |
|
Nkore (also called Nyankore, Nyankole, Nkole, Orunyankore, Orunyankole, Runyankore, and Runyankole) is a Bantu language spoken by the Nkore (Banyankore) and Hima peoples of Southwestern Uganda in the former province of Ankole.
There are approximately 2,330,000 native speakers, mainly found in the Mbarara, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Ibanda, Isingiro, and Rukungiri districts. Runyankole is part of an East and central African language variously spoken by the Nkore, Kiga, Nyoro, and Tooro people in Uganda; the Nyambo, Ha and Haya in Tanzania; as well as some ethnic groups in the Congo region, Burundi and Rwanda. They were part of the Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom of the 14-16th centuries.
There is a brief description and teaching guide for this language, written by Charles Taylor in the 1950s, and an adequate dictionary in print. Whilst this language is spoken by almost all the Ugandans in the region, most also speak English, especially in the towns. English is the official language, and the language taught in schools.
Nkore is so similar to Kiga (84%–94% lexical similarity) that some argue they are dialects of the same language, a language called Nkore-Kiga by Charles Taylor.
The greeting Agandi, implying, "How are you?" but literally meaning "other news!", can be replied with Ni marungi, which literally means "good news!".
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Wikipedia