Kirundi

Rundi
Ikirundi
Native to	Burundi
Ethnicity	Hutu Tutsi Twa Ganwa
Native speakers	13 million (2021)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Rwanda-Rundi (D62) Rundi
Dialects	Ikibo Ikirundi Ikiragane Igisoni Ikinyabweru Ikiyogoma Ikimoso
Writing system	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  Rundi rund1241  Rundi-Kitwa
Guthrie code	JD.62[2]
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Kirundi, also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language and the national language of Burundi. It is a dialect of Rwanda-Rundi dialect continuum that is also spoken in Rwanda and adjacent parts of Tanzania (in regions close to Kigoma), the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, as well as in Kenya. Kirundi is mutually intelligible with Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda, and the two form parts of the wider dialect continuum known as Rwanda-Rundi.^[3]

Kirundi is natively spoken by the Hutu, including Bakiga and other related ethnicities, as well as Tutsi, Twa and Hima among others have adopted the language. 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.^[4]