Ngadha language
Language in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ngadha (IPA: [ŋaᶑa], also spelled Ngada, Ngadʼa or Ngaʼda[2]) is an Austronesian language, one of six languages spoken in the central stretch of the Indonesian island of Flores.[3] From west to east these languages are Ngadha, Nage, Keo, Ende, Lio, and Palu'e. These languages form the proposed Central Flores group of the Sumba–Flores languages, according to Blust (2009).[4]
| Ngadha | |
|---|---|
| Bahasa Ngadha | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Flores |
| Ethnicity | Ngada |
Native speakers | (ca. 65,000 cited 1994–1995)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:nxg – Ngadʼanea – Eastern Ngadʼa |
| Glottolog | ngad1261 |
Djawanai (1983) precises that Ngadha somewhat deviates from Austronesian norms, in that words do not have clear cognates and the grammatical processes are different;[5] for example, the Austronesian family of languages makes an abundant use of prefixes or suffixes (which form new words by adding extensions either before or after root-words, such as [per-]form or child[-hood]), whereas the Ngadha language uses no prefixes or suffixes.[6]
Ngadha is one of the few languages with a retroflex implosive /ᶑ /.
Phonology
The sound system of Ngadha is as follows.[7]
Vowels
The short vowel /ə̆/ is written ⟨e⟩ followed by a double consonant, since phonetically a consonant becomes geminate after /ə̆/.[8] It is never stressed and does not form sequences with other vowels except where glottal stop has dropped (e.g. limaessa 'six', from lima 'five' and 'essa 'one').
Within vowel sequences, epenthetic [j] may appear after an unrounded vowel (e.g. in /eu/, /eo/) and [w] after a rounded vowel (e.g. in /oe/, /oi/). Double vowels are sequences. Vowels tend to be voiceless between voiceless consonants and pre-pausa after voiceless consonants.
Stress is on the penultimate syllable, unless that contains the vowel /ə̆/, in which case stress is on the final syllable.[9]
Consonants
The implosives have been spelled ⟨bʼ dʼ⟩, ⟨ʼb ʼd⟩ and ⟨bh dh⟩. The velar fricatives are spelled ⟨h, gh⟩.[2]
The trill is short, and may have only one or two contacts.
In initial position, there is a distinction between the glottal stop and zero (no consonant), as in inu 'drink' vs. 'inu 'tiny'. In rapid speech the glottal stop tends to drop between vowels.[10]
Phonetically [#C̩CV] words are analyzed from a phonological point of view as having an initial schwa. Such words always have a voiced initial consonant; before an voiceless consonant, the initial schwa is pronounced. Examples are emma [mma] 'father', emmu [mmu] 'mosquito', enna [nna] 'sand', Ennga [ŋŋa] (name), ebba [bba] 'swaddling sling', ebbu [bbu] 'grandparents', Ebbo [bbo] (name), erro [rro] 'sun'. In medial position, the schwa can drop out even before voiceless consonants, as in limaessa [limassa] 'six'.[11]