1994
XIV, 517 pp.
1 map, 9 sonagrams, numerous tone specimens, diagrams, tables and charts, appendices: LENDU Geography and Demography, Comparative Word Lists of the LENDU Speech Varieties, Regional and Free Variants within Ngiti, LENDU Ethnic Groups and their Speech Varieties, Verb Conjugations
Text language: English
Ngiti (also called Southern Lendu) belongs to the Lendu subgroup of Central Sudanic, which in turn is a branch of the Chari-Nile subdivision within the Nilo-Saharan language family. It is spoken by about 100,000 people (1991) in the Ituri Province / northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The first chapter focusses on the classification of Lendu and Ngiti, showing that Ngiti diverges from the Lendu dialects. Chapters 2-4 treat the phonological structure of Ngiti. A special feature of the language is the contrast between voiced and voiceless implosives, only found in Lendu and Ngiti. Chapters 5-9 deal with the different word classes found in Ngiti and their syntactic behaviour. The language makes a distinction between alienable and inalienable possession as well as verbal plurality.