Yes among the Gikuyu of Nyanza (read Abagusii) the situation is more dire

picture this akina Nyachae do not have the following letters c, f, h, j, l, p, q, v, w, x and z

c and h exists only in combined ch form
a few bortowed names have p eg Opanga

am told Ekegusii was written by Luo missionary acolytes wapi @keraka

they could one community with the smallest no of alphabets gaki?

@The Clown: If I misunderstood you, you have my apologies.

Nevertheless, I speak as a Gikuyu speaker and with some some linguistic training as well. And the points I make about Gikuyu orthography are based on training.

If you believe I am wrong please say where.

A very good friend of mine, a Maasai, once told me that insults are relative. An insult is only effective if the insulted can get offended.

As a n example my friend told me that calling a Maasai man 'Ngombe' was actually a blessing, not an insult. It is like to calling me (a Gikuyu) pesa, or shamba...

It's impossible to write some words as they are pronounced using a borrowed alphabet and letters.
Chûchû , sûsû , cûcû ,shûshû.

@Wakanyugi, using your own example Kirinyaga/Keenyaa to apply the consonant drift theory, I find that is is the opposite of what you are stating. To me Kamba is a later dialect derived from Gikuyu. How now? let me explain. consonant drift means as you correctly state that pronunciation moves to easier forms; the easier forms are those with less consonants. consonants are harder to pronounce than vowels infact a child in first language acquisition begins with vowels then consonants follow so it follows that between Kirinyaga and Kenyaa that the Kamba did away with the consonants in Kirinyaga. For example a wazua derivative drifts from McReggae to Mareggae, get the drift?

On Gikuyu/Kamba relations, the Gikuyu myth explains the Kamba as athoni (in-laws) through Wamuyu the ninth daughter of Gikuyu

ditto

here is an interesting read of similarities between kikuyu language and Ethiopian Akhenaten

http://emmanuelkariuki.h...khenaten-and-the-Kikuyu
1. The kikuyu say TENE to mean long ago. There is also a bygone era known as TENE NA AGU.

2. the founder of the tribe was called Gĩkũyũ or TENE. According to Kenyatta in his treatise on the Kikuyu, a grand child of Gĩkũyũ, was overthrown due to his dictatorship tendencies.

3. The Kikuyu term for a Kind person is MUTANA and a mean person is MUKARE. MU is a prefix denoting a person or object with a spirit. In my interpretation, Akhenaten (TENE, TANA) was kind while his co-regent Smenkhare (KARE) was perceived to be mean.

4. There is reason to believe that a pharaoh was also called a 'Sycamore' tree. This is a fig and the word Gĩkũyũ (Kikuyu) means the great fig tree.Therefore, the founder of the tribe was the Great Fig.

5. From ethnographic material on the Kikuyu, I have gathered that there was a ceremony performed every 30 years called 'Ituika'. Just like the Hebsed in Egypt, the term translates to 'the becoming.' Egyptologists have given the same meaning to 'Hebsed'

A study of the Kikuyu Hebsed indicates to me that there were nine (9) fixed names for each 30 year period in 270 years. When arranged in chronology, the last name is MWANGI. When you break down the two syllables, you get MWA and NGI. Mwa stands for 'OF'.
The originator of the tribe was called – Gĩkũyũ (the big fig tree) and was also known as TENE. Akhenaten was also refered to as a FIG as were other male pharaohs.

· The largest river in Kenya is called the TANA – likely to be a suffix from Akhenaten’s name.

True. Ever seen/heard how our Kírínyaga people pronounce the word 'baba' in their lingo? Almost like a Swahili 'baba' but with the lips slightly pursed to allow some air to pass through .

Generally, the spoken language is more dynamic than the written one. Thus English still retains the k in knife long after they stopped pronouncing it. Same for knight - there was a time when knight and night were pronounced differently...

But hat, heart, hut and hurt are still pronounced differently to date.

The spelling in Kikuyu was just an attempt to represent the sounds using the English alphabet. Learn to speak the language BEFORE learning to write/read it.

And if you think the Kikuyu write in a strange manner, consider the following...

Christmas instead of krismas

Read "NOT" aloud;
Read "ICE" aloud;
Now put the two together and read "NOTICE" aloud.

these historians craze with Egyptian links is funny! Every tribe wants to be seen as having come from the north, the Nile region. There are articles claiming the Kalenjin and even the Luo are descendants of ancient Egyptians.

There are 2 theories I have bought from historians though:

1. The Abagusii are close relatives of the Mount Kenya tribes, left behind during the migration.(but this might mean the migratory route is different for the Mount Kenya tribes from the conventional one taught in history that passes through the coastal area)

2. The Tutsi of Rwanda and Burundi came from Ethiopia....in my first interaction with a Mututsi, I asked them if they're Ethiopian