Lesson: ALPHABET
CONSONANTS 'ENTETA'
b
c
d
f
g
h
j
k
m
n
p
v
r
s
t
z
If all are added, they total up to twenty-three, and when the other three which include; sh, ny and ts are added they become twenty-six. The reason as to why they are not added to the list of consonants is because they are semi-consonants. Letters y and w are also not included because for them, they are semi-vowels and to get any of these, you must add the two vowels.
Example
1. u+I,o,e,a = w
2. i+,a,o,e,u = y
Therefore, if you get any of the vowels U and I respectively plus another vowel, one comes up with any of the semi-vowels W or Y.
Letters X and Q are not used anywhere in the Runyankore-Rukiga words but they are only used in foreign languages forexample, we have words such as xarier, queen and many others but u will never see any Runyankore-Rukiga word with such letters.
It should also be noted that also letter L is not used in Runyankore-Rukiga orthography unless it is any name of a person or a name of a place. For example, names like kabala, Ankole and many others are right because they are names of certain places but words like twamuleeba, yaamutwala, and many examples are very wrong but rather should be written like, twamureeba and yaamutwara respectively.
In addition, letters m and n are called nasal compounds, and a nasal
compound is always preceded by a long vowel and for this reason, a
double vowel is never written although the vowel its self is long.
It is a waste of time to show length in a place where there’s no
doubt about it. Below are some of the Runyankore-rukiga words with a
nasal compound. Okumpera 'abusing me', munsaasire 'forgive'.
Therefore, care should be taken while reading, analyzing and trying
to write any of the Runyankore-Rukiga word.
We can also go ahead to see more of the examples of some of the common phrases or statements that are commonly used in both English and Runyankore.