Ngiti language

Ngiti
South Lendu
Ndruna
Native toCongo (DRC)
EthnicityNgiti people
Native speakers
(100,000 cited 1991)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3niy
Glottologngit1239

Ngiti is a Central Sudanic language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Speakers also refer to themselves as "Southern Lendu", and in talking to outsiders, can say they speak "Kilendu". There are Ngiti communities concentrated south of Bunia.

Phonology

Consonant Phonemes[2]: 31 
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
Vowel Phonemes[2]: 55 
Front Back
High +ATR i u
-ATR ɪ ʊ
Mid +ATR e o
-ATR ɛ ɔ
Low a

Numeral system

Ngiti is reported to have a base-32 number system with base-4 cycles.[3] The usage of base-10 number system is also used. The following is a list of some Ngiti numerals in base-32.

Number Numeral Meaning
1 atdí
2 ɔyɔ
3 ɨ̀bhʉ
4 ɨ̀fɔ
5 imbo
6 aza
7 àrʉ̀bhʉ̀ 8-1
8 àrʉ̀
9 àrʉ̀gyètdi 8+1
10 ɨdrɛ
11 otsi-vi 12-1
12 otsi
13 otsi dɔ̀ atdí 12+1
14 otsi dɔ̀ ɔyɔ 12+2
15 ɔpɨ-vi 16-1
16 ɔpɨ
17 ɔpɨ dɔ̀ atdí 16+1
18 ɔpɨ dɔ̀ ɔyɔ 16+2
19 àbà-vi 20-1
20 àbà
24 àròtsí
28 àdzòro
32 wǎdhɨ̀
64 ɔyɔ wǎdhɨ̀ 2×32
96 ɨ̀bhʉ wǎdhɨ̀ 3×32
128 ɨ̀fɔ wǎdhɨ̀ 4×32

Notes and references

  1. ^ Ngiti at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b Kutsch Lojenga, Constance (1994). Ngiti: a Central-Sudanic language of Zaire (PhD). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
  3. ^ Hammarström, Harald (2006), "Rarities in Numeral Systems", Proceedings of Rara & Rarissima Conference (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-19, retrieved 2009-10-23


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