Ruund language

{{Short description|Bantu language spoken in DR Congo and Angola}}

{{see also|Lunda language}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Ruund

|nativename=Chiluwunda

|states=Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola

|region=Copperbelt

|speakers={{sigfig|252,000|2}}

|date=2000

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Niger-Congo

|fam2=Atlantic–Congo

|fam3=Benue–Congo

|fam4=Bantoid

|fam5=Bantu (Zone L)

|fam6=Lunda (L.50)

|iso3=rnd

|glotto=ruun1238

|glottorefname=Ruund

|guthrie=L.53

}}

Ruund (Ruwund), also known as Northern Lunda or Uruund, is a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. It is highly unusual among Bantu languages for allowing consonantal codas and for its reduced vowel system, in which short /e/ and /o/ have become [i] and [a] respectively, leaving only 3 short vowels.{{cite web|url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman/Bantu_segmental.pdf|title=Segmental Phonology|last=Hyman|first=Larry|page=8|access-date=22 March 2014}}

Another interesting feature of Ruund is that, as with the related Ciluba language, the tones of Proto-Bantu have reversed, so that High has become Low and vice versa.Nash, J.A. (1994), [https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/elanguage/sal/article/download/1296/1296-2281-1-PB.pdf "Underlying Low Tones in Ruwund"].

Studies in African Linguistics Volume 23, Number 3,1992-1994. In this language therefore the accented syllables are Low and the default tone is High.