Ngiti language

Central Sudanic language of DR Congo

Ngiti
South Lendu
Ndruna
Native to	Congo (DRC)
Native speakers	(100,000 cited 1991)^[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Central Sudanic Eastern Lendu Ngiti
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

Consonant Phonemes^[5]^: 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
Implosive	voiceless	ɓ̥		ᶑ̥	ʄ̥			ʔ
Affricate	voiced	b͡v	d͡z
Affricate	voiceless	p͡f	t͡s
Fricative	voiced	v	z
	voiceless	f	s					h
	prenasalised	ᵐv	ⁿz
Approximant		β	l	r	j		w

Vowel Phonemes^[5]^: 55
		Front	Back
High	+ATR	i	u
High	-ATR	ɪ	ʊ
Mid	+ATR	e	o
Mid	-ATR	ɛ	ɔ
Low		a

Unusual numeral system

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

^ 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)