Kikuyu has 7 vowels: a e i, o, u, ĩ, and ũ.
Kikuyu Vowels Sounds and Pronounciation
Each Kikuyu vowel has one specific sound. They sound the same no matter the letter combinations.
They are not like english which has vowels that are pronunced differently depending on the word and letter combinations.
Foturnately, there are English equivalent sounds for all the Kikuyu vowels. These are:
| Kikuyu Vowel | English Equivalent Vowel Sound |
|---|---|
| a | a in ant, ask, axe, apply |
| e | e in egg, elder, elephant, escape |
| i | i in ink, big, pin, sit, |
| o | o in on, hot, dot, mop, sock, ostrich, oval |
| u | ue in music, unit, huge, mute |
| ĩ | ai in air, fair, or ay in say, day, play |
| ũ | o in open, joke poke, rose or oa in goat, soap, coat |
If you are unsure of how to pronounce the equivalent English sounds, you can google the word’s pronounciation. For example, you can google “Egg pronounciation” and listen to how the word is said.