Ngiti language
| Ngiti | |
|---|---|
| South Lendu | |
| Ndruna | |
| Native to | Congo (DRC) |
Native speakers | (100,000 cited 1991)[1] |
Nilo-Saharan?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | niy |
| Glottolog | ngit1239 |
The Ngiti /əŋˈɡiːti/,[2] or South Lendu, are an ethnolinguistic group located in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ngiti speakers call their language Ndruna. In 1991, the Ngiti numbered 100,000 located in the Irumu territory south of Bunia.[3] During the Ituri conflict, the Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri was formed as a Ngiti militia group and political party.[4]
Phonology
[edit]| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||||
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | ɖɽ | ɟ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | |
| voiceless | p | t | ʈɽ | c | k | k͡p | ||
| prenasalised | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶯɖɽ | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡b | ||
| Implosive | voiced | ɓ | ᶑ | ʄ | ||||
| voiceless | ɓ̥ | ᶑ̥ | ʄ̥ | ʔ | ||||
| Affricate | voiced | b͡v | d͡z | |||||
| voiceless | p͡f | t͡s | ||||||
| Fricative | voiced | v | z | |||||
| voiceless | f | s | h | |||||
| prenasalised | ᵐv | ⁿz | ||||||
| Approximant | β | l | r | j | w | |||
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| High | +ATR | i | u |
| -ATR | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Mid | +ATR | e | o |
| -ATR | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Low | a | ||
Unusual numeral system
[edit]Ngiti is reported to have a base-32 number system with base-4 cycles.[6] The following is a list of some Ngiti numerals.
| Number | Numeral |
|---|---|
| 1 | atdí |
| 2 | ɔyɔ |
| 3 | ɨ̀bhʉ |
| 4 | ɨ̀fɔ |
| 8 | àrʉ̀ |
| 12 | otsi |
| 16 | ɔpɨ |
| 20 | àbà |
| 24 | àròtsí |
| 28 | àdzòro |
| 32 | wǎdhɨ̀ |
| 64 | ɔyɔ wǎdhɨ̀ |
| 96 | ɨ̀bhʉ wǎdhɨ̀ |
| 128 | ɨ̀fɔ wǎdhɨ̀ |
Notes and references
[edit]- ^ Ngiti at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
- ^ Ngiti from Ethnologue
- ^ "DRC: Who's who in Ituri – militia organisations, leaders", IRIN, 20 April 2005
- ^ a b Kutsch Lojenga, Constance (1994). Ngiti: a Central-Sudanic language of Zaire (PhD). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
- ^ Hammarström, Harald (2006), "Rarities in Numeral Systems", Proceedings of Rara & Rarissima Conference (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-19
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