Academic literature on the topic 'Kinyarwanda (langue) Kinyarwanda (langue)'

RÉSUMÉ Le kinyarwanda et le lingala, l’un vernaculaire, l’autre véhiculaire, sont représentatifs respectivement d’un système complexe et d’un système réduit parmi les langues bantu. Le système du lingala, basé sur l’expression de l’aspect, oppose les formes qui expriment le révolu à celles qui expriment le non-révolu (absence/présence du morphème |(-)ko-|. Le système du kinyarwanda oppose, quant à l’expression du temps, les formes hypothétiques (infinitif, optatif et potentiel) qui ne peuvent exprimer que le présent et le futur, à la forme thétique, l’indicatif, qui peut exprimer, en plus du présent et du futur, le passé. Il apparaît que, du plus au moins complexe, le système fondamental commun aux deux langues reste basé sur un schème binaire d’oppositions : actuel/virtuel, révolu/non-révolu, sans position intermédiaire.

AbstractIn Bantu languages such as Chichewa or Herero, locatives can function as subjects and show noun class agreement (in class 16, 17 or 18) with predicates and modifiers. In contrast, (preverbal) locatives in Sotho-Tswana and Nguni have been analysed as prepositional adjuncts, which cannot agree. Our paper compares locatives in Kinyarwanda (JD61) with locatives in these other Bantu languages and demonstrates that the Kinyarwanda locative system is essentially of the Chichewa/Herero type. We show that Kinyarwanda locatives are nominal in nature, can act as subjects, and agree with predicates and modifiers. However, even though Kinyarwanda has four locative noun classes (16, 17, 18 and 25), there is only one locative agreement marker (class 16ha-), which indiscriminately appears with all locatives, regardless of their noun class. We explain this fact by arguing that noun class features in Kinyarwanda do not participate in locative agreement; instead, the invariant class 16 marker expresses agreement with a generic feature [location] associated with all locatives. We offer a syntactic analysis of this peculiar aspect of Kinyarwanda locative agreement, and we propose a parameter that accounts for the relevant difference between Kinyarwanda and Chichewa/Herero-type Bantu languages.

Coronal harmony in Kinyarwanda causes alveolar fricatives to become postalveolar preceding a postalveolar fricative within a stem. Alveolar and postalveolar stops, affricates and palatals block coronal harmony, but the flap and non-coronal consonants are reported to be transparent. Kinematic data on consonant production in Kinyarwanda were collected using electromagnetic articulography. The mean angle for the line defined by receivers placed on the tongue tip and blade was calculated over the consonant intervals. Mean angle reliably distinguished alveolar and postalveolar fricatives, with alveolars showing a lower tip relative to blade. Mean angle during transparent non-coronal consonants showed a higher tip relative to blade than in contexts without harmony, and the mean angle during transparent [m] was not significantly different than during postalveolar fricatives. This is consistent with a model where Kinyarwanda coronal harmony extends a continuous tip-blade gesture, causing it to be present during ‘transparent’ segments, but without perceptible effect.

Causative and applicative morphemes have been central in work on the morphosyntax of argument structure. However, several genetically unrelated languages use a single, syncretic form for both functions, which complicates the traditional view that a causative adds a new subject and an applicative adds a new object. In this paper, I propose an analysis of a morphological syncretism found in the Bantu language Kinyarwanda where the morphological causative and instrumental applicative are both realized by the morpheme –ish. I argue for Kinyarwanda that both causation and the introduction of an instrument are analyzable as two outgrowths of the same semantic notion of introducing a new link into the causal chain described by the verb. The different causative and instrumental readings derive from underspecification of the position of the new link in the causal chain, although its placement is restricted via general constraints on possible event types as well as constraints on verb meaning and argument realization. This analysis provides an explanation for the presence of the causative–instrumental syncretism as well as provides insight into the interface between verb meaning and valency-changing morphology.

Cette thèse a pour objectif l'étude sociolinguistique d'un contact mettant en jeu deux langues africaines, le Kinyarwanda et le Giciga. En effet, si au Rwanda en général (ch. 1) la situation sociolinguistique se caractérise, de manière plus manifeste, par la concurrence entre le Kinyarwanda, langue nationale et officielle, et le Français, langue officielle également, dans la région du Ndorwa, qui a sa propre histoire et des problèmes qui lui sont spécifiques (ch. 2), la concurrence entre le Kinyarwanda et le Francais est éclipsée par une concurrence quotidienne beaucoup plus serrée entre le Kinyarwanda et le Giciga, deux langues bantoues (présentées au ch. 3). Le traitement des résultats d'une enquête sur les opinions des locuteurs (ch. 4) et l'observation de cas (ch. 5) permettent de dégager les faits suivants : existence d'un conflit latent et du phénomène de la covariance dans lequel attitudes et comportements sont à situer dans un cadre de référence identitaire très complexe déterminé par des facteurs extra-linguistiques (scolaires, socioprofessionnels, politiques, psychologiques ou liés à l'âge, etc. . . ) qui s'imbriquent les uns dans les autres
This thesis aims at undertaking a sociolinguistic study of a relationship between two african languages : Kinyarwanda and Giciga. In fact if generally in Rwanda in the sociolinguistic atmospere is marked by a rivalry between Kinyarwanda, an official and national language, and French also an official (language ch. 1), in the region of Ndorwa which has its own history and its own problems (ch. 2), the rivalry between Kinyarwanda and French is by passed by an everyday and more acute rivalry between Kinyarwanda and Giciga, two bantu languages (presented in ch. 3). According to an analysis of an opinion poll that has been carried out on the field (ch. 4) and the observation of case studies (ch. 5), these two allow us to put forward the following facts : the existence of a prevailing conflict and the covariation phenomenon in which attitudes and behavior are to be associated with a complex problem of identity which is determined by extra-linguistic factors (e. G. Educational, social, professional, political, psychological and or simply related to age groupe) and each of these interact

Toute la population du Rwanda parle une même langue, le kinyarwanda, à la fois langue nationale et officielle. Cette homogénéité linguistique « de surface » se présente comme l’arbre qui cache la forêt d’une relative diversité linguistique « en profondeur » (dialectes, langues africaines et européennes en présence). L’heure n’est pas encore au chaos, mais l’adoption du trilinguisme officielle en 1996 [(kinyarwanda-français-anglais) impose, plus que par le passé, la définition d’une politique de gestion de la situation sociolinguistique du Rwanda, notamment par la détermination claire, par une loi linguistique, des fonctions des langues officielles dans les différents domaines, pour régler les problèmes qui se posent depuis le bilinguisme kinyarwanda-français adopté vers les années 1930. Les problèmes linguistiques et sociolinguistiques intéressent diverses catégories de personnes depuis le début du 20ème siècle. Cependant, la question de l’utilisation des langues dans les différents domaines et de leur connaissance approximative reste entièrement posée. Ce travail analyse les politiques linguistiques appliquées au Rwanda jusqu’à ce jour pour en dégager les enjeux et en établir le bilan afin de proposer de nouvelles stratégies de gestion de la situation sociolinguistique du Rwanda. Il s’agit en effet d’une politologie linguistique qui s’inscrit dans le cadre théorique et conceptuel déjà très rodé et dont l’efficacité a pu être testée sur le terrain dans différents pays ; cadre théorique qui est emprunté pour l’essentiel au linguiste québécois Jean-Claude Corbeil. Il est enrichi des analyses d’autres auteurs comme Robert Chaudenson, Louis-Jean Calvet, Loïc Depecker, Henri Boyer, etc. sur le concept d’aménagement linguistique et sur des situations concrètes. L’étude s’appuie à la fois sur une recherche documentaire minutieuse, une enquête de terrain qui a été effectuée au Rwanda auprès des diverses catégories de personnes et quelques entretiens informels avec certains intervenants en matière d’aménagement linguistique (linguistes et décideurs)
The whole population of Rwanda speaks the same language, Kinyarwanda, which is both the national and official language. This “surface” linguistic homogeneity is seen as a tree that hides a forest of a relatively “in depth” linguistic diversity (dialects, African and European languages). It is not yet time for chaos but the adoption of official trilingualism (Kinyarwanda-French-English) requires more than ever before the definition of the policy of managing the sociolinguistic situation of Rwanda, namely by clear determination, by a linguistic law, of the roles of official languages in various areas in order to solve the problems that have remained unanswered since the adoption of Kinyarwanda-French bilingualism in the 1930’s. From early the 20th century, the linguistic and sociolinguistic issues have interested various researchers. However, the question of the use of languages in various domains and their approximate mastery is still posed. This work analyses the linguistic policies that have been adopted in Rwanda with aim to bring out the stakes and assess the situation geared towards suggesting the new management strategies of the sociolinguistic situation of Rwanda. This is indeed a linguistic “politology” which falls within the theoretical and conceptual framework already explored whose efficiency has been tested on the ground in different countries. The theoretical framework has essentially been borrowed from the Quebec linguist Jean-Claude Corbeil. It is enriched with analyses of such other authors as Robert Chaudenson, Louis- Jean Calvet, Loïc Depecker, Henri Boyer, etc. on the concept of language planning and concrete situations. The study is based on both a meticulous documentary research and field work that have been carried out in Rwanda with various categories of people and some informal interviews with some stakeholders in language policy and planning [linguists and decision-makers]

L’introduction est consacrée à la présentation générale de la langue kinyarwanda, y compris ses dialectes, ainsi qu'à l'explication du cadre théorique et méthodologique utilise à savoir l'approche fonctionnaliste. Le premier chapitre est un rappel du système phonologique et des principales règles de représentation. Le deuxième traite des catégories grammaticales ; il examine en particulier le constituant nominal et le constituant verbal. Le troisième chapitre porte sur les fonctions syntaxiques dans la phrase simple. Y sont discutées la prédication non verbale, la prédication verbale, les fonctions sujet, objet et circonstant. Le chapitre quatre étudie l'énonce complexe, à savoir les constructions par juxtaposition, coordination et subordination. Enfin, le dernier chapitre examine la syntaxe particulière de certains genres littéraires oraux proches des formes simples (salutations, anthroponymes, devinettes, jurons et insultes)
The introduction presents a general survey of kinyarwanda language in its geographical and cultural context and gives the theoretical and methodological background. The first chapter is a review of the phonological and morpholological systems. The second one deals with the grammatical categories especially nominal and verbal constituants. The third chapter studies extensively the syntactic functions in the independant clause (non verbal predicates, verbal predicates, subject function, object and adjunct). The following chapter analyses the complex clauses, i. E. The problems of juxtaposition, coordination and subordination. The fifth and last chapter is a study of the particular syntax of some oral literary genres closer to the sentence, especially greetings, individual names, riddles, swearwords and insults, which reveals a real connexion between syntax and semantics

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The decision to investigate the lexicographic representation of Kinyarwanda phrasemes has been motivated by two problems. Firstly, the compilers of Kinyarwanda general dictionaries do not take cognisance of the wide-ranging nature of Kinyarwanda phrasemes. As a result, the confusion of different types of phrasemes entails inadequate treatment of phraseology in Kinyarwanda dictionaries. Furthermore, some types of phrasemes are mistakenly left out or under-represented in Kinyarwanda dictionaries due to the fact that the multifaceted nature of Kinyarwanda phrasemes is not recognised. Secondly, the representation of phrasemes in current Kinyarwanda dictionaries is unsatisfactory as far as data presentation, distribution and accessibility is concerned. Therefore, not only is the multifaceted nature of phrasemes not reflected in the representation of phrasemes in Kinyarwanda dictionaries but Kinyarwanda dictionaries also fall short as far as the application of adequate metalexicographic principles and tools is concerned. It is anticipatively argued that the use of innovative tools and suggestions offered by the contemporary theoretical lexicography coupled with insights from the linguistic classification of phrasemes will enable a user-friendly presentation of phrasemes in general dictionaries of Kinyarwanda. This thesis attempts to bring solutions to these shortcomings by formulating theoretically motivated proposals for lexicographic representation of phraseological items in Kinyarwanda general dictionaries. To achieve this goal and in order to formulate a model for lexicographic representation of phrasemes this study uses a positivist approach and utilises two theories of lexicography, namely the functional theory of lexicography mainly developed by Bergenholtz and Tarp and the general theory of lexicography outlined by Wiegand. The theory of lexicographic functions provided this study with decisive heuristics such as the concept of user situation, lexicographic function and user profile that have been employed to devise a function-motivated model of lexicographic representation of different types of phrasemes. Insights from the theory of dictionary structures were used to determine how various dictionary structures could be used to position phrasemes in the dictionary so that easy access is secured. These theories helped formulate policies for inclusion and treatment of different classes of phrasemes taking into account the function that the dictionary is purported to fulfil and the role different structures of the dictionary play in user-friendly distribution of lexicographic data. In addition, this research relied on various sources of data and used a qualitative approach to data analysis and argument construction. In Chapter 3 the concept of phraseme in the framework of Meaning-Text linguistics is defined and various pitfalls in lexicographic representation of phrasemes in existing dictionaries of Kinyarwanda are addressed. In Chapter 4, proposals have been made regarding both straight lemmatisation and sublemmatisation of Kinyarwanda idioms in the central list whereby the proposed models have been evaluated taking into account different lexicographic functions. In addition, suggestions have been made as to how to use both the central list section and the outer texts, especially the back matter and the middle matter to present proverbs in general language dictionaries of Kinyarwanda. Further, a model for lexicographic presentation of collocations has been formulated in Chapter 5, taking into account four lexicographic functions: text production, text translation, text reception and cognitive-oriented dictionary. In this chapter it is shown what the representation of collocations could look like when satisfying each of the above-mentioned lexicographic functions. Finally two models for the lexicographic representation of pragmatemes or pragmatic phrasemes are proposed in Chapter 6. In this chapter, both the internal-article treatment of pragmatemes in the central list and the presentation of pragmatemes in the outer texts are discussed and evaluated. Chapter 7 outlines the summary of major research findings along with related recommendations on the lexicographic treatment of different types of phrasemes and assesses whether the initial research questions have been properly answered, while at the same time paving the way for further research and more comprehensive discussions.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die besluit om die leksikografiese verteenwoordiging van Kinyarwanda fraseme te ondersoek, word deur twee probleme gemotiveer. Eerstens word die uiteenlopende aard van Kinyarwanda fraseme nie deur die samestellers van algemene woordeboeke vir Kinyarwanda in ag geneem nie. Die verwarring van die verskillende tipes fraseme lei tot onvoldoende hantering van fraseologie in Kinyarwanda woordeboeke. Voorts word sekere tipes fraseme eenvoudig uit Kinyarwanda woordeboeke weggelaat of swak verteenwoordig, juis omdat die veelsydige aard van Kinyarwanda fraseme misgekyk word. Tweedens is die verteenwoordiging van fraseme in die bestaande Kinyarwanda woordeboeke onbevredigend wat betref die aanbod, verspreiding en toeganklikheid van data. Daarom word die veelsydige aard van fraseme nie net swak verteenwoordig in Kinyarwanda woordeboeke nie, maar sodanige woordeboeke skiet ook ver te kort wat die toepassing van voldoende metaleksikografiese beginsels en toepassings betref. Daar word vooruitskouend ‘n saak voor uitgemaak dat die gebruik van innoverende instrumente en voorstelle vanuit die kontemporêre teoretiese leksikografie tesame met insigte oor die linguistiese klassifikasie van fraseme, ‘n gebruikersvriendelike fraseemaanbod in Kinyarwanda algemene woordeboeke sal bewerkstellig. Hierdie tesis probeer om oplossings vir die tekortkominge te bied deur middel van teoreties gemotiveerde voorstelle vir die leksikografiese verteenwoordiging van fraseologiese items in Kinyarwanda algemene woordeboeke. Om hierdie doel te verwesenlik en om ‘n model vir die leksikografiese verteenwoordiging van fraseme te ontwikkel, word ‘n positivistiese benadering gevolg en word twee leskikografieteorieë, naamlik die funksionele teorie, hoofsaaklik ontwikkel deur Bergenholtz en Tarp, en die algemene leksikografieteorie soos uiteengesit deur Wiegand, toegepas. Die teorie van leksikografiese funksies het hierdie studie van bepalende, deurslaggewende riglyne voorsien, soos die konsep van die gebruiker se situasie, die leksikografiese funksie, en die gebruikersprofiel wat gebruik is om ‘n funksie-gemotiveerde model van leksikografiese verteenwoordiging vir die verskillende tipes fraseme op te stel. Daarbenewens is insigte uit die woordeboekstruktuurteorie aangewend om te bepaal hoe verskillende woordeboekstrukture gebruik kan word om fraseme sodanig in woordeboeke te posisioneer dat vinnige en maklike toegang verseker word. Hierdie teorieë het bygedra tot beleidsformulering vir die insluiting en hantering van verskillende klasse fraseme met inagname van die veronderstelde woordeboekfunksie en die rol wat verskillende woordeboekstrukture in die gebruikersvriendelike verspreiding van leksikografiese data speel. Die navorsing het ook op verskeie databronne staatgemaak en ‘n kwalitatiewe benadering tot data-analise en argumentkonstruksie is gebruik. In hoofstuk 3 is die konsep fraseem binne die raamwerk van die linguistiese teorie van Meaning-Text (Betekenis-Teks) gedefinieer en verskeie slaggate in die leksikografiese verteenwoordiging van fraseme in bestaande Kinyarwanda woordeboeke word ondersoek. In hoofstuk 4 word voorstelle ten opsigte van die gewone lemmatisering en sublemmatisering van Kinyarwanda idiome in die sentrale lys bespreek en die voorgestelde modelle word geёvalueer met inagname van die verskillende leksikografiese funksies. Daarbenewens word voorstelle gemaak oor hoe om sowel die sentrale lys as die buitetekste, veral die agter- en middelteks, te gebruik om spreekwoorde in Kinyarwanda woordeboeke vir algemene taal aan te bied. ‘n Model vir die leksikografiese voorstelling van kollokasies word in hoofstuk 5 geformuleer. Vier leksikografiese funksies word in ag geneem, naamlik teksproduksie, teksvertaling, teksresepsie en kognitief-georiёnteerde woordeboeke. Daar word aangetoon hoe kollokasies verteenwoordig kan word sodat elk van die bogenoemde leksikografiese funksies in ag geneem word. Twee modelle vir die leksikografiese verteenwoordiging van pragmateme of pragmatiese fraseme word in hoofstuk 6 voorgestel. Sowel die interne-artikelhantering van pragmateme as die hantering van pragmateme in die buitetekste word bespreek en evalueer. Ten slotte word die belangrikste navorsingsresultate saam met ander voorstelle ten opsigte van die leksikografiese hantering van verskillende tipes fraseme in hoofstuk 7 uitgelig. Daar word ook gekyk of die navorsingsvrae behoorlik beantwoord is, terwyl die weg gebaan word vir verdere navorsing en meer omvattende bespreking.

Ce travail tend a mettre en evidence deux faits : - l'existence d'une pluralite d'elements formels concomitants neces- saires a la communication des differentes informations vehiculees par le langage, phenomene appele ici "superposition des marques"; - l'existence de categorisations du reel imposees par la syntaxe dans le domaine aussi bien des designations, des relations que des formula- tions, ce qui definit une "semantique de la syntaxe". Le semantisme des parties du discours fait l'objet des deux pre- mieres parties. La premiere partie etudie la distribution des parties du discours en palau (chap. I), tagalog (chap. Ii), kinyarwanda (chap. Iii) et luganda (chap. Iv). La seconde partie aborde les phenomenes de valence et d'orientations, autre face du semantisme des parties du discours : la notion d'orientation est etendue aux noms (chap. Vii) et aux propositions subordonees (ou a leurs equivalents (chap. Ix). Le semantisme des relations fait l'objet de la troisieme partie, qui presente une analyse quasi complete des systemes fonctionnels du palau (chap. Xi) et du tagalog (chap. Xii), dans le cadre de la theo- rie de la "superposition des marques" (chap. X), egalement appliquee dans le domaine de la morphophonologie (chap. Xiii). Sont abordes les problemes particuliers suivants : - la valeur du morpheme a, de la forme dite "hypothetique" en palau; - la valeur des affixes verbaux en tagalog et en palau; - la valeur du preprefixe (ou augment) et la situation des locatifs dans les langues bantoues (kinyarwanda et luganda). Les problemes generaux suivants font l'objet de developpements : - opposition verbo-nominale, distinction entre nom et substantif; - phenomenes de translation, rection, valence, "lexicases"; - statut des relateurs, par rapport aux autres marques; - ethnocentrisme dans les theories et les descriptions
This thesis tends to demonstrate two points : - a number of concomitant formal elements is necessary for the communication of the different information conveyed by language, a phenomenon which is described here as "superimposition of markers"; - the fact that syntax imposes categorizations of the real world in the field of "designations" and "relations" as well as "formulations" (pottier), results in "semantics of syntax" (hagege). The first two sections discuss the semantics of parts of speech. The first section studies the distribution of parts of speech in the palauan (chapter i), tagalog (chapter ii), kinyarwanda (chapter iii) and luganda languages (chapter iv). The second section discusses the phenomena of valencies and orientations, another aspect of the semantics of parts of speech : the concept of orientation is applied to nouns (chapter vii) and subordinate propositions (or their equivalents) (chapter ix). The semantics of relations are discussed in the third section, which presents a fairly extensive analysis of the functional systems of the palauan (chapter xi) and tagalog languages (chapter xii), in the context of the theory of "superimposi- tion of markers" (chapter x), which will also be applied to the field of morpho- phonemics (chapter xiii). A number of specific problems are considered : - the value of the morpheme a, the so-called "hypothetical" form in palauan; - the value of the verbal affixes in tagalog and palauan; - the value of the initial vowel and the place of locative class markers in the bantu languages (kinyarwanda and luganda). The following general linguistic problems are also developed : - the verb-noun opposition, the distinction between noun and substantive; - phenomena of transferring, government, valency, lexicases; - the relation between cases, roles and statement hierarchy;- ethnocentricity in theories and descriptions

This study investigates Kinyarwaanda sexuality taboo words and their meaning in Rwandan culture to enable the youth to improve their communication and the values of Rwandan culture. It explores whether the use of Kinyarwaanda sexuality taboo words is a good way to communicate with one another or is a transgression of Rwandan culture. Its intent is to see the value that Rwandans assign to verbal taboos, particularly sexuality taboo words, to see how these taboos regulate Rwandans lives, to see the attitudes Rwandans hold towards them, and to find out the link there might be between sexuality taboo words, the information dissemination on HIV/AIDS and the spread of AIDS.

Notre étude est centré sur le kinyarwanda et le kiswahili, deux langues de référence à partir desquelles nous faisons des extrapolations au niveau du bantu en général. Ainsi, nous établissons les règles de correspondance entre le Bantu Commun et chacune des deux langues, et un rapprochement contrastif entre les deux langues. La motivation du changement est recherchée non seulement dans le contact entre les sons et leur positionnement, mais aussi dans la réorganisation des sous-systèmes phonologiques. En morphosyntaxe, nous cherchons d'abord les fonctions, avant de comparer les formes. Concernant les mécanismmes généraux d'évolution, ce travail a permis d'identifier un phénomène d'innovation compensatoire. En phonologie, celle-ci concrne la spirantisation des occlusives dans l'environnement des voyelles du premier degré d'aperture /i/ et /u/. Ainsi, dans certaines langues bantu, il y eu derive de la voyelle /e/ dans le champ de /i/ et de /o/ dans celui de /u/. Ainsi la spirantisation des consonnes avoisinantes est intervenue pour prévenir la confusion phonologique. Sur le plan phonétique, il y eu d'abord la palatalisation devant /i/ et de labialisation devant /u/, suivies éventuellement de phénomènes d'africation, d'assimilation et de désafrication. En morphosyntaxe verbale, l'innovation compensatoire concerne l'introduction d'un segment d'appoint -ra- ou l'allongement du formatif temporel -a- pour éviter la confusion tonale entre paradigmes voisins. Ce travail a illustré d'autres principes généraux d'évolution, comme la grammaticalisation des fonctions verbales par l'incorporation d'items lexicaux, ou encore l'analogie, les mécanismes de dissimilation / assimilation et la lénition des occlusives en position intervocalique.

Doctor Educationis
The language of instruction plays a determining role in students’ academic performance. This suggests that students should be taught in a language they are familiar with in order to enhance understanding of the content subjects. In Rwanda, almost all Rwandans communicate and interact in Kinyarwanda, their mother tongue. It is, thus, expected that Rwandan children should be instructed in this home language. However, the status of English as a global language has also found echo in Rwanda, and this foreign language was adopted as medium of instruction from Primary 4 onwards. This thesis, therefore, aims to determine what role English as a medium plays in delivering quality education in Rwanda. To respond to the above question, the researcher investigated three secondary Third Form schools in the rural Gisagara District of the Southern Province. She wanted to explore the teaching and learning strategies deployed in the English language classrooms and the learning materials and infrastructure available at the schools. The focus was on English language classes as these were the spaces in which Rwandan children were explicitly exposed to English and where their proficiency in the language was developed. However, the researcher also needed to find out the effect that English had on the students’ academic performance, the correlation between their results in English and their results in content subjects, and the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of English as language of instruction. It is in this vein that a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches was used and various data collection techniques employed to obtain enriched data. Classroom observations and interviews with students and their English teachers were conducted. A questionnaire was also distributed to the students and their results in English and in content subjects were analysed to supplement the data generated by other methods. This study was guided by sociocultural theories of second language learning according to which language is a mediating tool that helps to adjust relationships between people that live in the same community. Language is, hence, a necessary artifact that is worth acquiring. For language learning to take place, learners need to interact with more knowledgeable people. In the classroom, it is the teacher who has to mediate this learning, assuming that he/she is more knowledgeable than the students. Classroom peer interactions in the target language also provide room wherein brighter students may assist their struggling classmates. Language across the curriculum approach and content-based instruction also inspired this study. These approaches suggest that language should be taught in context and especially through the content related to the students’ fields of study. The research findings indicate that the students were not proficient in English, the language of instruction, which hindered their school achievement. In addition, no correlation could be established between the students’ results in English and their results in content subjects. Indeed, despite the students’ poor performance in English they did better in this language than in the content subjects. Furthermore, not all students who fared well in English succeeded in the content subjects, and some students scored good marks in the content subjects whilst they failed in English. The findings also show that the teaching and learning strategies used in the language classrooms, as well as the learning materials and infrastructure at the schools, did not promote English acquisition. Ironically, despite English being a hindrance to the learning of other subjects, both the students and their teachers affirmed that they preferred that this language remain as medium of instruction. They believed that being competent in English could offer them more life opportunities than any other language.

Ce chapitre présente une page dans l’histoire de l’interprétation en Afrique, à savoir la professionnalisation des interprètes rwandophones par leurs collègues au sein du Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR). Nous analysons le régime d’interprétation « hybride », une combinaison entre interprétation consécutive et simultanée, utilisé par le TPIR ainsi que d’autres instances internationales de justice pénale qui ont besoin d’interprétation à partir de et vers des langues africaines (Cour pénale internationale, Tribunal spécial pour la Sierra Leone). Ensuite, nous présentons la structure de la formation interne développée par des interprètes de conférence (français-anglais) du TPIR pour permettre à leurs collègues, des bilingues kinyarwanda-français/anglais recrutés sans formation préalable en interprétation, de travailler en simultanée. Cette professionnalisation progressive des interprètes rwandophones a permis de réduire la durée des audiences de 25 % et représente ainsi une contribution non négligeable à l’administration de la justice internationale.