Nii language
Trans–New Guinea language of Papua New Guinea
Nii | |
---|---|
Ek Nii | |
Native to | Papua New Guinea |
Region | Western Highlands Province |
Native speakers | (12,000 cited 1991)[1] |
Language family | Trans–New Guinea
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nii |
Glottolog | niii1240 |
Nii is a Trans–New Guinea language of the Chimbu–Wahgi branch spoken in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Nii has an unusual number of lateral consonants: a typical dental approximant, /l̪/, plus both dental and velar lateral fricatives, /ɬ̪/ and /𝼄/, which are optionally voiced between vowels and do not occur in initial position.[2]
Phonology
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | u | |
Near-High | ɪ | ||
Mid | e | o | |
Open | ɑ |
Consonants
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
Plosive | voiceless | p | (t̪)[a] | (t)[b] | k | |
prenasalized | ᵐb | ⁿd | ⁿdz | ᵑɡ | ||
Fricative | s̪ | |||||
Trill | r̝ | |||||
Lateral | ɬ̪ | l | ʟ̝̊ | |||
Approximant | w | j |
References
- ^ Nii at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Foley, 1986:63, The Papuan languages of New Guinea
Further reading
- Stucky, Al (1994). "Organised Phonology Data" (PDF).
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