Kamba Language (Kikamba) Alphabet

Unicode's CLDR lists these main letters for the kam locale: a b c d e f g h i ĩ j k l m n o p q r s t u ũ v w y z, each in uppercase and lowercase form; this locale character set is not a definitive chart of the Kikamba alphabet. That is the English alphabet without x, with ĩ placed after i and ũ after u. The symbol grid above gives 46 letter forms from the practical alphabet, which leaves out f, j, p and q, the combining tilde for writing the two vowels in decomposed form, the curly quotation marks used in Kenyan print and the 🇰🇪 flag.

Like most Bantu languages Kikamba is tonal, but everyday spelling does not mark tone, so the tilde is the only accent you will meet. The practical Kikamba alphabet omits f, j, p and q, and pairs like th, mb, nd and ny write single sounds, as in thanthatũ (six), mbee (first), ndola (dollar) and nyaanya (eight).

Ĩ ĩ and Ũ ũ: the two tilde vowels of Kikamba

The tilde on ĩ and ũ does not mean a nasal vowel, as it does in Portuguese ã or õ. It marks a separate vowel, pronounced lower in the mouth than plain i and u, which gives Kikamba seven vowels in all: a, e, i, ĩ, o, u, ũ. Leaving the tilde off spells a different vowel, so careful writers keep it.

You can see both letters at work in CLDR's Kikamba words: kelĩ (two), katatũ (three), thanthatũ (six), ĩkumi (ten), the era names Mbee wa Yesũ and Ĩtina wa Yesũ (BC and AD), and the words for a.m. and p.m., Ĩyakwakya and Ĩyawĩoo. The capitals Ĩ and Ũ are needed at the start of sentences and names, as in Ĩkumi or Ũkambanĩ, the Kamba homeland.

How to type ĩ and ũ, Kenyan quotes and the shilling

The four letters are in Unicode as single characters: Ĩ U+0128, ĩ U+0129, Ũ U+0168, ũ U+0169. They have no Windows Alt code in the classic 0–255 range, and the US-International layout's tilde key only makes ã, ñ and õ. In Microsoft Word type 0129 or 0169 and press Alt+X (0128 and 0168 for the capitals). On a Mac add the ABC – Extended input source and press Option+N, then i or u. On Linux, Compose then ~ then i or u works. In HTML write ĩ, ũ, Ĩ and Ũ.

On a phone the quickest way is to copy the letters from this page once and save them as text-replacement shortcuts. Text pasted from older software sometimes holds i or u followed by the combining tilde U+0303 instead of the single character; it looks the same but may not match in searches, so retype it with the precomposed letter. Quotation marks follow English use in Kenya: “double” outside, ‘single’ inside, and ’ as the apostrophe. The Kenyan shilling has no Unicode sign of its own: CLDR's Kikamba locale calls it Silingi ya Kenya and writes it Ksh1,000.00.

Numbers, days and months in Kikamba

Kikamba names the months by counting: Mwai wa mbee (the first month, January), Mwai wa kelĩ (the second), and so on through katatũ, kana, katano, thanthatũ, muonza, nyaanya, kenda and ĩkumi to Mwai wa ĩkumi na ĩmwe and Mwai wa ĩkumi na ilĩ, November and December. The same counting gives the numbers people search for: kelĩ 2, katatũ 3, kana 4, katano 5, thanthatũ 6, muonza 7, nyaanya 8, kenda 9, ĩkumi 10. The ending changes with the noun counted, which is why two is kelĩ in Mwai wa kelĩ but ilĩ in ĩkumi na ilĩ.

The week counts too. Sunday is Wa kyumwa, Monday is Wa kwambĩlĩlya, the day of beginning, and Tuesday to Saturday are Wa kelĩ, Wa katatũ, Wa kana, Wa katano and Wa thanthatũ. The quarters of the year are Lovo ya mbee, Lovo ya kelĩ, Lovo ya katatũ and Lovo ya kana.

Where the Kamba language is spoken

Kikamba is the language of the Kamba people (Akamba) of Ukambani, the dry hill country east and south-east of Nairobi that takes in Machakos, Kitui and Makueni counties, and of the many Akamba who live in Nairobi and other Kenyan towns. CLDR estimates roughly 4.4 million speakers, all counted in Kenya, which makes it one of the country's largest languages. Many speakers also use Kiswahili and English, Kenya's official languages; Kiswahili is also the national language, and borrowed words show the contact.

Kamba is a Bantu language of the Central Kenya group, close kin to Gĩkũyũ, Kiembu and Kimeru, which write the same tilde vowels ĩ and ũ. Each has its own collection here (Kikuyu, Embu and Meru), as do Swahili, and Kenya for the flag, the shilling and the country's emoji.