(sometimes written '''Kikuyu''', pronounced and 'proper' spelling ''Gĩkũyũ'') is a language in the
Central Bantu branch of the
Niger-Congo family spoken primarily by the
Kĩkũyũ people of
Kenya . Numbering about 6 million (22% of Kenya's population), they are the largest
Ethnic Group in Kenya. Gikuyu is spoken in the area between
Nyeri and
Nairobi . Gikuyu is one of the five languages of the Thagichu subgroup of the
Bantu languages that stretches from
Kenya to
Tanzania . The Gikuyu people usually identify their lands by the surrounding mountain ranges in Central
Kenya which they call ''Kirinyaga'' or 'the shining mountain'.
Gikuyu has four main mutually intelligible dialects. The
Central Province districts are divided along the traditional boundaries of these dialects which are
Kirinyaga ,
Muranga ,
Nyeri and
Kiambu . The Gikuyu from Kirinyaga are composed of two main sub-dialects - the Ndia and Gichũgũ who speak the dialect Kĩ-Ndia and Gĩ-gĩcũgũ. The Gĩcũgũ's and the Ndia's do not have the "ch" or "sh" sound, and will use the "s" sound instead, hence the pronunciation of "Gĩcũgũ" as opposed "Gĩchũgũ". To hear Ndia being spoken, one needs to be in
Kerugoya the largest town in Kirinyaga. Other home towns for the Ndia, where purer forms of the dialect are spoken will be in the tea growing areas of
Kagumo , and the cool Kangaita hills. Lower down the slopes is Kutus, which is a bustling dusty town with too many influences from the other dialects to be able to differentiate.
The unmistakable sing-song Gichugu dialect (which sounds like Embu a sister language to Gikuyu) can be heard in the coffee growing areas of Kĩanyaga, Gĩthũre, Kathũngũri, Marigiti. The Gichugu switch easily to the other plainer Kikuyu dialects in conversation with the rest of the Gikuyu.
The
Mwea division which is part of the
Kirinyaga District is an amalgam of Gikuyu, mostly from Kirinyaga, settled in the mid to late 1960's soon after independence by displaced Gikuyu whose lands had been taken by the colonialists.
Gikuyu is written with a modified Latin alphabet. Compared with English:
- It does not use the following letters: f l p q s v x z
- It denotes seven vowel sounds with an i-tilde and u-tilde in addition to a e i o u
The alphabet letters then are:
Some sounds are represented by digraph combinations such as for the velar n ().
There is a notable literature written in Gikuyu language. For instance, author and professor
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o 's ''Mũrogi wa Kagogo'' (''Wizard of the Crow'') is the longest book composed in a sub-Saharan African language. Other authors writing in Gikuyu include
Mwangi Wa Mutahi and
Gatua Wa Mbugwa .
- Gecaga B.M. and Kirkaldy-Willis W.H. 1953. English-Kikuyu, Kikuyu-English Vocabulary. Nairobi: The Eagle Press.
- 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.
