Ngathi

Natively known as: ngathi /ˈŋatʰi/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ngilʼ nga ker yul nge nder ngilʼ ona nge inam tsholʼ ngam bukhuke
Pronunciation: /ŋilʼ ŋa kɛr jul ŋɛ nd̥ʱɛr ŋilʼ ˈɔna ŋɛ ˈinam tʃʼɔlʼ ŋam ɓuˈkʰukɛ/
Ngathi word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b̥ʱ d̥ʱ f g gᵏ h j k kʰ l lʼ m m̤ mᵏ mᶢ n n̠ʲ nᵏ p pʰ q r s t tʰ t̠ʲʼ v w x z ŋ ǀʼ ǁʱ ɓ ɣ ɮ ʃ ʃʼ ʔ ᵏǀʼ ᵏǁʰ ᵏǁʼ ᵑǀʱ ᵑǃʱ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m̤ m mᵏ mᶢ			n nᵏ	n̠ʲ		ŋ
Stop	pʰ b̥ʱ p			d̥ʱ t tʰ	t̠ʲʼ		k g kʰ gᵏ	q	ʔ
Implosive	ɓ
Fricative		f v		z s	ʃʼ ʃ		x ɣ		h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɮ
Lateral approximant				l lʼ
Click			ǀʼ ᵏǀʼ ᵑǀʱ	ᵑǃʱ
Lateral click				ᵏǁʼ ǁʱ ᵏǁʰ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a eː i iː u ɔ ɛ

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u
High-mid	eː
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
kxʼ	kr
x	rh
j	y
d̥ʒʱ	j
ᵏǀʼ	c
ᵏǁʼ	x
ᵏǃʼ	q
ᵏǀʰ	ch
ᵏǁʰ	xh
ᶢ̥ǀʱ	gc
ᵑǀʱ	ngc
ᶢ̥ǁʱ	gx
ᶢ̥ǃʱ	gq
ᵑǃʱ	ngq
ᵑǀ	nc
ᵑǃ	nq
t̠ʲʼ	ty
ʔ	'
pʰ	ph
tʰ	th
kʰ	kh
b̥ʱ	bh
d̥ʱ	d
ɡ̊ʱ	g
ɓ	b
tʃʼ	tsh
kʟ̥ʼ	kl
d̥zʱ	dz
ɬ	hl
ʃ	sh
ɮ̈	dl
ɣ̈	gr
n̠ʲ	ny
ŋ	ng
m̤	mh
iː	ii
eː	ee
ɛ	e
ɔ	o

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Nouns

Articles

Ngathi has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	no /nɔ/ I	ge /gɛ/ me
2nd singular	a /a/ you	kwom /kwɔm/ you
3rd singular masc	nga /ŋa/ he, it (masc)	kum /kum/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	wam /wam/ she, it (fem)	um /um/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	ngam /ŋam/ we	ka /ka/ us
2nd plural	nim /nim/ you all	ndem /nd̥ʱɛm/ you all
3rd plural masc	bo /ɓɔ/ they (masc)	ndim /nd̥ʱim/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	belʼ /ɓɛlʼ/ they (fem)	kwund /kwund̥ʱ/ them (fem)

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	i /i/ my
2nd singular	wa /wa/ your
3rd singular masc	nge /ŋɛ/ his
3rd singular fem	sa /sa/ her
1st plural	nes /nɛs/ our
2nd plural	nda /nd̥ʱa/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ka /ka/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	a /a/ their (fem)

Verbs

Future

If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kɔ- konyul /ˈkɔnjul/ will learn

Ngathi uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: wa - wa nyul /wa njul/ learned

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Ngathi uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix mna- mnanyul /ˈmnanjul/ learn

Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Ngathi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix lu- lunyul /ˈlunjul/ have learned

Numbers

Ngathi has a base-12 number system:
1 - ndeh
2 - ngo
3 - mngu
4 - oh
5 - nda
6 - or
7 - wu
8 - nya
9 - ngil
10 - am
11 - um
12 - nduh
144 - kunga
1728 - aze

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix ɓa-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix u-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix nɔ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix si-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ᵏǁʼ-
Else: Prefix ᵏǁʼi-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix ki-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix w-
Else: Prefix wɔ-
Tending to = Prefix ŋa-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix az-
Else: Prefix azi-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɔᵏǀʼ-
Else: Prefix ɔᵏǀʼa-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɓi-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix lw-
Else: Prefix lwa-
Diminutive = Prefix kɛ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛkʰ-
Else: Prefix ɛkʰɛ-

Dictionary

3128 Words.