The Rutara or Runyakitara languages (endonym: ''Orutara'', ''Orunyakitara'') are a group of closely related

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. T ...

spoken in the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in the ...

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, and two independent languages that have more particular features. The languages are:

North Rutara languages

* Nyoro- Tooro (Runyoro-Rutooro) *

Nkore-Kiga Nkore-Kiga is a language spoken by around 5,800,000 people living in the extreme southwest of Uganda. It is often defined as two separate languages: Nkore and Kiga. It is closely related to Runyoro-Rutooro. History Archibald Norman Tucker w ...

(Runyankore-Rukiga) * Ruuli (Ruruuli) * Talinga-Bwisi (Lutalinga/Lubwisi) *

Hema Hema may refer to: * Hemā (mythology), a figure from Polynesian mythology * HEMA (store), a Dutch chain of stores * Hema (supermarket) (盒马), a supermarket chain in China * Hema maps, an Australian map publisher * Hema people, an ethnic group ...

(Ruhema)

South Rutara languages

Haya Haya may refer to: Biology * ''Haya'' (dinosaur), a genus of basal ornithopod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous from Mongolia * ''Haya'' (plant), a genus of plants in the family Caryophyllaceae * Haya de Herguijuela (Spanish: beech ...

(Ruhaya) *

Nyambo The Nyambo, or Ragwe, are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic group based in the Karagwe District of Kagera Region in far northwestern Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), i ...

(Runyambo)

Zinza and Kerewe (independent)

Zinza The Zinza are a Bantu ethnolinguistic group from the southwestern Islands on Lake Victoria, Tanzania. The Zinza people also lived on the shores of Geita Region and Mwanza Region. In 1987, the Zinza population was estimated to number 138,00 See also ...

(Ruzinza) * Kerewe (Rukerebe/Kikerebe)

History

According to glottochronological calculations, Proto-Rutara emerged in the year 700AD. Proto-Rutara was first spoken in the

Kagera Region Kagera Region (''Mkoa wa Kagera'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Netherlands. Kagera Region is bordere ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

near Bukoba before spreading northwards into uganda and the DRC.

References

{{reflist Great Lakes Bantu languages