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Nateni (Natemba) is a language of the Gurma people spoken in Benin. It is named after its principal dialect; the others are Tayari (Tayaba), Kunteni (Kuntemba), Okoni (Okoma).
Phonology
- 1 2 3 When preceding nasal vowels, the voiced plosives become nasal consonants:
- /b/ > [m]
- /d/ > [n]
- /ɟ/ > [ɲ]
- ↑ According to Nédellec & Bukies (2008), the voiced palatal plosive /ɟ/ is disappearing in Nateni. Before oral vowels, it has completely merged to [j], while the nasal realization [ɲ] before nasal vowels is undergoing a similar process, but has not yet completely merged.
- ↑ The voiceless velar plosive /k/ is realized as voiced [ɡ] between vowels (as well as following the syllabic nasal).
- ↑ The syllabic nasal only occurs in medial and final positions. Its place of articulation depends on the sounds that follow it:
- [m] preceding bilabials
- [ɱ] preceding labiodentals
- [n] preceding alveolars
- [ɲ] preceding palatals
- [ŋ] preceding velars
It may also be analyzed as a /CV/ cluster with the vowel [ũ], as in [Nũ], where ⟨N⟩ is any realization of the syllabic nasal.
Writing system
| Alphabet[3] |
|---|
| uppercase |
A | B | C | D | E |
Ɛ | F | H | I | K |
Kp | M | N | O | Ɔ |
P | S | T | U | W |
Y |
| lowercase |
a | b | c | d | e |
ɛ | f | h | i | k |
kp | m | n | o | ɔ |
p | s | t | u | w |
y |
The low tone is indicated with the grave accent and the high tone with the acute accent on the vowel ⟨à è ɛ̀ ì ò ɔ̀ ù á é ɛ́ í ó ɔ́ ú⟩ or the syllabic n ⟨ǹ ń⟩.
The nasalization is indicated with the help of the tilde under the vowel ⟨a̰ ɛ̰ ḭ ɔ̰ ṵ⟩ which can be combined with the acute or grave accent indicating the tone ⟨á̰ ɛ̰́ ḭ́ ɔ̰́ ṵ́ à̰ ɛ̰̀ ḭ̀ ɔ̰̀ ṵ̀⟩.
