The Ruvubu River (also spelt Rurubu and Ruvuvu ) is a river in central Africa whose waters gather from the most distant, southern portion of the Nile basin . With a total length of 416 km (258 mi) and has a drainage basin of 14,000 km (5,400 sq mi). It rises in the north of Burundi , near the town of Kayanza and then does a southward arc through Burundi, being joined by the Ruvyironza River near Gitega . From there it runs northeast, through the Ruvubu National Park , up to the Tanzanian border. After a stretch along the border, the Ruvubu crosses properly into Tanzania, before joining the Nyabarongo River on the Tanzania– Rwanda border near Rusumo Falls , to form the Kagera River .
19-554: The Ruvubu gets its name from the Kirundi word for hippopatamus , imvubu, because the river is home to a large population of hippos. The Ruvubu River originates on the Congo-Nile ridge at Ngoga, at an altitude of 2,300 metres (7,500 ft). It flows from northwest to southeast to Mugera , and from there, takes a northeast direction. It flows for 285 kilometres (177 mi) through Burundi, and drains most of Burundi’s part of
38-599: A certain pattern of tonal change in Bantu languages, is active. In 2020, the Rundi Academy was established to help standardize and promote Kirundi. Although the literature on Rundi agrees on 5 vowels, the number of consonants can vary anywhere from 19 to 26 consonants. The table below is compiled from a survey of academic acceptance of Rundi consonants. The table below gives the vowel sounds of Rundi. All five vowels occur in long and short forms. The distinction
57-455: A metrical or rhythmic structure. Some authors have expanded these more complex features of the tonal system noting that such properties are highly unusual for a tone system. Syllable structure in Rundi is considered to be CV, that is having no clusters, no coda consonants, and no complex vowel nuclei. It has been proposed that sequences that are CVV in the surface realization are actually CV in
76-540: Is phonemic . Rundi is a tonal language . There are two essential tones in Rundi: high and low (or H and L). Since Rundi has phonemic distinction on vowel length, when a long vowel changes from a low tone to a high tone it is marked as a rising tone. When a long vowel changes from a high tone to a low tone, it is marked as a falling tone. Rundi is often used in phonology to illustrate examples of Meeussen's rule In addition, it has been proposed that tones can shift by
95-624: 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
114-416: Is avoided. These processes result in a less tonal, more accentual character in Bantu tone systems, ending finally in a situation in which there tends to be only one tone per word or morpheme. Here are some illustrations of the phenomenon in Kirundi (examples adapted from Philippson 1998). In the first sentence, both the tense marker rá and the verb form báriira (to sew) carry a high tone, signified by
133-662: The Buyenzi , Kirimiro and Bweru natural regions. The Ruvubu marshes are largely flooded and occupied by permanent swamps. 2°23′23″S 30°46′52″E / 2.38972°S 30.78111°E / -2.38972; 30.78111 This article related to a river in Burundi is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in Tanzania is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kirundi Kirundi , also known as Rundi ,
152-648: The Chewa language of Malawi, for example, when the word kuph í ka 'to cook' is followed by a direct object such as nyama 'meat', the tone on the penultimate syllable will spread: kuph í k á nyama 'to cook meat'. There are many other exceptions to Meeussen's rule. For example, in verbs in Shona , in certain circumstances two high tones may occur in adjacent syllables. In the subjunctive t í -t é ngésé 'we should sell', both tí and té- have underlying high tones (the high tones of -ngésé arise from tone spreading), yet
171-455: The Luganda language of Uganda, the word *b á -l í -l á ba 'they will see', which theoretically has three High tones, is actually pronounced b á lilabá with only one. (The tone on the last syllable is an automatically generated phrasal tone; see Luganda tones .) This process does not operate in the same way in every language, however. For example, in Shona , a Bantu language of Zimbabwe,
190-402: The acute accent . They are separated by the pronominal marker zi . In the second sentence, the pronominal marker zi is left out, resulting in two adjacent High tones. Due to the phenomenon described by Meeussen's rule, the second High tone changes into a Low tone. These examples show a way of deriving from place names nouns with the meaning 'a person originating from'. In the first example,
209-578: The Nile watershed. Its watershed covers 10,200 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) and covers the center of Burundi. Tributaries on both banks include the Kinyankuru River , Ndurumu River , Nyakigezi River , Nkoma River , Mubarazi River , Ruvyironza River , Nyabaha River and Kayongozi River . Most of these rivers have their source on the Congo Nile ridge. The Ruvubu passes through
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#1732765106934228-451: The Tonga verb stating that "in a sequence of determinants, only the first is treated as a determinant". It was John Goldsmith who reformulated this as the rule HH > HL (or, as he expressed it, H → L / H ) which later became well known as Meeussen's Rule. Meeussen's rule is one of a number of processes in Bantu languages by which a series of consecutive high tones
247-580: The pattern HL. The phenomenon is named after its first observer, the Belgian Bantu specialist A. E. Meeussen (1912–1978). In phonological terms, the phenomenon can be seen as a special case of the Obligatory Contour Principle . The term "Meeussen's Rule" (the spelling with a capital R is more common) first appeared in a paper by John Goldsmith in 1981. It is based on an observation made by Meeussen in his 1963 article on
266-549: The place name bukéeye has a High tone on the second syllable. The junction with umuɲá ('person from') has no influence on this tone. In the second example, a place name with a High tone on the first syllable is used. Like above, the second High tone of the resulting pattern of two adjacent High tones is changed into a Low tone due to the phenomenon described by Meeussen's rule. Just as HH (High tone + High tone) can become HL (High tone + Low tone) by Meeussen's rule, so also HHH will often become HLL, and HHHH will become HLLL. Thus in
285-399: The similar verb * á -ch á -t é ng á 'he will buy' transforms to á -cha-t é ng á , where only one syllable is lowered by Meeussen's rule. Spreading of a tone across two or more syllables is quite common in Bantu languages. Tones which derive from spreading (or from plateauing, which is the spreading of high pitch from one high tone to another) are not affected by Meeussen's rule. Thus in
304-427: The underlying deep structure , with the consonant coalescing with the first vowel. Rundi has been shown to have properties of consonant harmony particularly when it comes to sibilants. Meeussen described this harmony in his essay and it is investigated further by others. One example of this harmony is triggered by /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ and targets the set of /s/ and /z/ in preceding adjacent stem syllables. Kirundi
323-466: The wider dialect continuum known as Rwanda-Rundi . 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
342-547: Was adopted as the official language of instruction in Burundian primary schools. Meeussen%27s rule Meeussen's rule is a special case of tone reduction. It was first described in Bantu languages , but occurs in analyses of other languages as well, such as Papuan languages . The tonal alternation it describes is the lowering, in some contexts, of the last tone of a pattern of two adjacent High tones (HH), resulting in
361-594: Was recognized an official language in Burundi by the 1962 Constitution of the Kingdom of Burundi . In accordance with the constitution, many Burundian government orders, especially those printed in the Bulletin Officiel du Burundi from 1962 to 1963, were written in both French and Kirundi. After the constitution was suspended in 1966, Kirundi remained a de facto official language in the country, though its use in government documents declined. In 1972 Kirundi
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