{{Short description|Bantu language spoken in Tanzania and Kenya}} {{Infobox language |name=Kuria |nativename=''Igikuria'' |states=[[Kenya]], [[Tanzania]]<ref name="Ethnologue page on Kuria">[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kuj Ethnologue entry for Kuria]</ref> |ethnicity= [[Kuria people]] |speakers=690,000 |date=2005–2009 |ref=e18 |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam2=[[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]] |fam3=[[Volta-Congo]] |fam4=[[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]] |fam5=[[Bantoid languages|Bantoid]] |fam6=[[Southern Bantoid]] |fam7=[[Bantu languages|Bantu]] |fam8=[[Northeast Bantu]] |fam9=[[Great Lakes Bantu]] |fam10=Logooli–Kuria (E.40) |dia1=Kuria proper |dia2=Simbiti |dia3=Hacha |dia4=Surwa |dia5=Sweta |script=[[Latin script|Latin]], [[Arabic script|Arabic]] |iso3=kuj |glotto=kuri1259 |glottorefname=Kuria |guthrie=JE.43,431–434 }}
'''Kuria''' is a [[Bantu language]] spoken by the [[Kuria people]] of Northern Tanzania, with some speakers also residing in Kenya.
Maho (2009) treats the Simbiti, Hacha, Surwa, and Sweta varieties as distinct languages.
==Phonology== ===Consonants=== {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+Kuria consonant phonemes<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Nyauma|first=Shem|date=2014|title=A Phonological Reconstruction Of Ekegusii And Egekuria Nouns: A Comparative Analysis|url=http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/99544/Nyauma_A%20Phonological%20Reconstruction%20of%20Ekegusii%20and%20Egekuria%20Nouns-a%20Comparative%20Analysis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|journal=Masters Thesis, University of Nairobi}}</ref> |- ! ! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]] ! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] ! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] ! [[Velar consonant|Velar]] ! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] |- ! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]] | {{IPA link|m}} | {{IPA link|n}} | {{IPA link|ɲ}} | {{IPA link|ŋ}} | |- ! [[Prenasalized consonant|Prenasalized plosive]] | {{IPA link|ᵐb}} | {{IPA link|ⁿd}} | | {{IPA link|ᵑg}} | |- ! [[Stop consonant|Plosive]]/[[Affricate consonant|affricate]] | | {{IPA link|t}} | {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} | {{IPA link|k}} | |- ! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]] | {{IPA link|β}} | {{IPA link|s}} | | {{IPA link|ɣ}} | {{IPA link|h}} |- ! [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]] | | | {{IPA link|j}} | | |- ! [[Tap and flap consonants|Tap/flap]] | | {{IPA link|ɾ}} | | | |- ! [[Trill consonant|Trill]] | | {{IPA link|r}} | | | |- |}
===Vowels=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |+Kuria vowels<ref name=":0" /> ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]] ! colspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]] |- ! [[Advanced and retracted tongue root|+ATR]] ! [[Advanced and retracted tongue root|-ATR]] ! [[Advanced and retracted tongue root|+ATR]] ! [[Advanced and retracted tongue root|-ATR]] |- ! [[Close vowel|Close]] | {{IPA link|i}} | | {{IPA link|u}} | |- ! [[Mid vowel|Mid]] | {{IPA link|e}} | {{IPA link|ɛ}} | {{IPA link|o}} | {{IPA link|ɔ}} |- ! [[Open vowel|Open]] | colspan="4" |{{IPA link|a}} |}
All vowels contrast length, and can be either short or long.
== Alphabet == {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;" |- ! ! colspan="27" | Kuria alphabet (Kenya)<ref>Rhonda L. Hartell, ed. 1993. The Alphabets of Africa. Dakar: UNESCO and Summer Institute of Linguistics</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Alphabets of Africa|publisher=UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar (BREDA)|year=1993|editor-last=Hartell|editor-first=Rhonda|url=https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_kuj_ortho-1|pages=186|isbn=((92-9091-020-3))}}</ref> |----- ! Uppercase | A || B || Ch || E || Ë || G || H || I || K || M || N || Nd || Ny || Ng' || O || Ö || R || Rr || S || T || U || W || Y |----- ! Lowercase | a || b || ch || e || ë || g || h || i || k || m || n || nd || ny || ng' || o || ö || r || rr || s || t || u || w || y |----- ! IPA Symbol | a || β || t͡ʃ || e || ɛ || ɣ || h || i || k || m || n || n͡d || ɲ || ŋ || o || ɔ || ɾ || r || s || t || u || w || j |}
==Bibliography== * Jelle Cammenga, ''Igikuria phonology and morphology : a Bantu language of South-West Kenya and North-West Tanzania'', Köppe, Köln, 2004, 351 p. {{ISBN|3896450298}} (revised text of a thesis) * S. M. Muniko, B. Muita oMagige and M. J. Ruel (ed.), ''Kuria-English dictionary'', LIT, Hambourg, 1996, 137 p. {{ISBN|3825829510}} * W. H. Whiteley, ''The structure of the Kuria verbal and its position in the sentence'', University of London, 1955, 161 p. (thesis) * Phebe Yoder, ''Tata na Baba = Father and Mother : a first Kuria reader'', Musoma Press, Musoma, Tanganyika, 1949, 44 p.
==References== <references/>
{{Languages of Kenya}} {{Languages of Tanzania}} {{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones E–H)}} {{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M)}} [[Category:Languages of Tanzania]] [[Category:Languages of Kenya]] [[Category:Great Lakes Bantu languages]] [[Category:Kuria people| ]]