Kalenjin Language Alphabet

Unicode's CLDR, the data that teaches phones and computers each language, gives the Kalenjin alphabet as a b c d e g h i j k l m n o p r s t u w y, each in capital and small form. There are no accented letters in CLDR’s 21-letter list, so its letters can be typed on an English keyboard. C turns up in the pair ch, as in Chamgei, Chebet and Kipchoge.

The one character a plain keyboard row does not show is the apostrophe in ng’. CLDR's Kalenjin data writes it as the curly ’ (U+2019): Ng’atyaato (February), Ng’eiyeet (July), Koaeng’ (Tuesday). The symbol grid above holds the 42 letters, the curly and straight apostrophes, the quotation marks used in Kenyan print, the flags 🇰🇪 and 🇺🇬, and a few emoji Kalenjin speakers use about home.

ng’, double vowels and b or p: how Kalenjin spelling works

ng’ with an apostrophe writes the single sound at the end of English sing (ŋ in phonetic script), while ng without it is n followed by g. Swahili uses exactly the same convention, as in ng’ombe (cow), so Kenyan readers who read Swahili already know it. In Kalenjin it can stand at the start of a word, as in Ng’atyaato, or at the end, as in aeng’ (two).

A doubled vowel is a long vowel: Kiptaamo (March), Mamuut (May), Rooptui (August), Epeeso (October), Kipsuunde (November and December). Kalenjin also has tone and two sets of vowels that linguists tell apart by tongue position, but everyday spelling marks neither, which is why the alphabet needs no accents.

In Kipsigis, /p/, /t/ and /k/ have voiced allophones [b], [d] and [g], and the established spellings depend on position. Names show it: Kibet and Kiptoo, Chebet and Jeptoo. Even Unicode's own Kalenjin data writes the language names as kutitab Uingeresa (English) but kutitap Japan and kutitap Poland.

Kalenjin words: days of the week, months and numbers

The days of the week in Kalenjin are counted. In CLDR they run Kotaai (Monday), Koaeng’ (Tuesday), Kosomok (Wednesday), Koang’wan (Thursday), Komuut (Friday), Kolo (Saturday) and Kotisap (Sunday): Ko- plus the numbers aeng’ two, somok three, ang’wan four, muut five, lo six and tisap seven, with taai, first, for Monday. The same taai and aeng’ name the first two quarters, Robo netai and Robo nebo aeng’, and the last two months, Kipsuunde ne taai and Kipsuunde nebo aeng’.

The months from January are Mulgul, Ng’atyaato, Kiptaamo, Iwootkuut, Mamuut, Paagi, Ng’eiyeet, Rooptui, Bureet, Epeeso, Kipsuunde ne taai and Kipsuunde nebo aeng’. Morning and afternoon are karoon (a.m.) and kooskoliny (p.m.), and the era names are Amait kesich Jesu and Kokakesich Jesu, BC and AD. Kenya is Emetab Kenya, and words like robo (quarter), Uingeresa (English) and Kifaransa (French) come from Swahili.

How to type Kalenjin: the ng’ apostrophe, quotes and the shilling

Every Kalenjin letter is on an English keyboard. Most people type ng’ with the straight apostrophe ' (as in ng'), and that reads fine; for the curly ’ that CLDR uses, hold Alt and type 0146 on the Windows number pad, press Option+Shift+] on a Mac, or write ’ in HTML. iPhones turn ' into ’ by themselves when smart punctuation is on, and on Android and iPhone keyboards a long press on the apostrophe key offers ’.

Quotation marks follow English: “double” with ‘single’ inside, Alt+0147 and Alt+0148 for “ and ” on Windows, Option+[ and Option+Shift+[ on a Mac. The Kenyan shilling has no Unicode sign; CLDR's Kalenjin locale calls it Silingitab ya Kenya and writes Ksh1,000.00, the abbreviation straight before the amount, a comma between thousands and a full stop for decimals. In Kenya prices are also often written with /= after a whole amount, as in Ksh 500/=.

Where the Kalenjin language is spoken

Kalenjin is a group of closely related Southern Nilotic languages from the highlands of Kenya's Rift Valley, around Eldoret, Iten, Kapsabet, Kabarnet and Kericho. Its peoples are usually listed as the Kipsigis, Nandi, Keiyo, Marakwet, Tugen, Terik, Pokot, Sabaot and Ogiek, and the Sebei (Sabiny) across the border on the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon speak a Kalenjin language too. CLDR estimates roughly 4.4 million speakers, and about 6.4 million people identified as Kalenjin in Kenya's 2019 census.

The name itself is young: kalenjin means "I tell you", and it became the name for the whole group in the mid-twentieth century through radio broadcasts and the people who used the phrase to bring the related communities together. Pokot has its own collection as Pökoot. Kalenjin's Nilotic relatives Masai, Samburu and Luo have collections too, as do the Bantu neighbours Luyia, Kikuyu and Gusii, Swahili, and the Kenya and Uganda pages for their flags and emoji.

Kalenjin names, greetings and emoji

Kalenjin names pair up: boys' names start with Kip- (or Ki-) and girls' with Chep-, Che- or Jep-, so Kiprotich and Cherotich, Kibet and Chebet, Kiprono and Cherono. Many names record when or how a child was born, which is why some girls' names, such as Chepkoech, mean born in the morning. The everyday greeting is Chamgei, also the name of a Kalenjin-language radio station, and thank you is Kongoi, or Kongoi mising for thank you very much.

The emoji in this collection are the ones Kalenjin speakers reach for about home: 🏃 🥇 🏅 for the runners of Iten and Eldoret, from Kip Keino to Eliud Kipchoge and Faith Kipyegon; 🐄 and 🥛 for cattle and mursik, the fermented milk kept in a gourd smoked with charcoal and handed to champions when they come home; 🌽 for the maize fields of Uasin Gishu, 🍵 for the tea gardens of Kericho, and 📻 for the Kalenjin radio that carries the news, songs and music of the Rift Valley.