Kisii Language (Ekegusii) Alphabet

Unicode's CLDR, the data that teaches phones and computers each language, lists the following characters as the Gusii locale's main letters: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u v w y z, each in capital and small form. That makes 24 letters, but the CLDR list is not a full account of Ekegusii orthography, which also writes consonants with digraphs such as ch, ng’ and ny. In Gusii words c appears inside the pair ch, as in Chumapiri (Sunday) and Chanuari (January), and ny is one sound, as in the county name Nyamira.

The apostrophe is part of the spelling, not punctuation. ng’ stands for the sound at the end of English sing, while plain ng is n followed by g, as in finger. CLDR writes it with the curly ’ (U+2019): entang’ani, first. On a phone or a plain keyboard most people type the straight ' instead, and both are in the symbol grid above, together with the curly quotation marks, the 🇰🇪 flag and three things Gusii country is known for: 🍌 bananas, 🍵 tea and 🪨 Kisii soapstone.

Ekegusii words in Kenya's calendar: ch, r and b

CLDR's Ekegusii locale gives the week as Chumapiri, Chumatato, Chumaine, Chumatano, Aramisi, Ichuma and Esabato, Sunday to Saturday. Put them next to Swahili's Jumapili, Jumatatu, Jumanne, Jumatano, Alhamisi, Ijumaa and Jumamosi and the Gusii habits show: ch where Swahili has j, and r where Swahili has l. Saturday is the Sabbath, Esabato.

The months follow the same pattern: Chanuari, Feburari, Machi, Apiriri, Mei, Juni, Chulai, Agosti, Septemba, Okitoba, Nobemba, Disemba, with b for the v of Novemba and an extra vowel in Okitoba, because Gusii syllables end in a vowel. The era names say it in full sentences: Yeso ataiborwa, before Jesus was born (BC), and Yeso kaiboirwe, Jesus was born (AD). The language calls itself Ekegusii; a Gusii person is Omogusii and the people are Abagusii, while most Kenyans say Kisii, the name of their main town.

How to type Kisii language letters, ng’ and the shilling

Every Ekegusii letter is on a standard keyboard, so nothing needs installing: an English or Swahili phone keyboard types it all. For the curly apostrophe ’ and the quotes on Windows, hold Alt and type 0146 for ’, 0145 for ‘, 0147 for “ and 0148 for ” on the number pad; on a Mac, Option+Shift+] gives ’, Option+] gives ‘, Option+[ gives “ and Option+Shift+[ gives ”. Phones usually turn a typed ' into ’ by themselves, or long-press the apostrophe key. In HTML, ’ is ’.

The Kenyan shilling has no Unicode sign of its own. CLDR's Ekegusii locale calls it Shilingi ya Kenya and writes prices with Ksh in front and no space, Ksh1,000.00, with a comma between thousands and a full stop for decimals.

Where the Kisii language is spoken

Ekegusii is the language of the Gusii highlands of south-western Kenya, in Kisii and Nyamira counties, east of Lake Victoria. The 2019 Kenyan census counted 2,703,235 people as Kisii; this is an ethnic population count, not a direct count of Ekegusii speakers. It is a Bantu language; its closest relative is Kuria, spoken to the south on both sides of the Kenya–Tanzania border. Its immediate neighbours are not Bantu at all: Luo (Dholuo) is spoken on the lowlands to the west, Kalenjin (Kipsigis) to the east and Maasai to the south-east.

The highlands are green, hilly and rainy, and the emoji in this set come from them: banana farming, a key Kisii crop, tea estates on the slopes, and the soft soapstone of Tabaka that local carvers turn into bowls, animals and chess sets. Kenya's other languages each have a collection of their own, among them Swahili, Kikuyu, Luo, Luyia, Kalenjin, Kamba and Masai, and the Kenya collection gathers the country's flag and emoji.