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The Rutara or Runyakitara languages (endonym: Orutara, Orunyakitara) are a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in the African Great Lakes region. They include languages such as Runyoro, Runyankore and Ruhaya. The language group takes its name from the Empire of Kitara.

Classification

Rutara is divided into two branches, North and South Rutara:

• North Rutara
  • Hema (Ruhema)
  • Nkore-Kiga-Nyoro-Tooro
    • Nkore-Kiga (Runyankore-Rukiga)
      • Nkore (Runyankore)
      • Kiga (Rukiga)
    • Nyoro-Tooro (Runyoro-Rutooro)
      • Nyoro (Runyoro)
      • Tooro (Rutooro)
  • Ruuli (Ruruuli)
  • Talinga (Kitalinga)
• South Rutara
  • Haya (Luhaya)
  • Nyambo (Runyambo)

Standardized language

• Runyakitara

History

According to glottochronological calculations, Proto-Rutara emerged in the year 500AD. Proto-Rutara was first spoken in the Kagera Region of Tanzania near Bukoba before spreading northwards into Uganda and the DRC.

References

1. Muzale, Henry R. T. (1998). "A Reconstruction of the Proto-Rutara Tense/Aspect System".
2. A Green Place, a Good Place: Agrarian Change, Gender, and Social Identity in the Great Lakes Region to the 15th Century. Boydell & Brewer, Limited. 1998. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-85255-681-8.
3. Stephens, Rhiannon (2 September 2013). A History of African Motherhood: The Case of Uganda, 700-1900. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107030800.
4. Elfasi, M.; Hrbek, Ivan (January 1988). Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. UNESCO. ISBN 9789231017094.
5. Schoenbrun, David L. (1993). "Cattle herds and banana gardens: The historical geography of the western Great Lakes region,ca AD 800?1500". The African Archaeological Review. 11–11: 39–72. doi:10.1007/BF01118142. S2CID 161913402.

• Great Lakes Bantu languages