Ngiti language

Ngiti
Ndruna
Native to Congo (DRC)
Native speakers
 unknown (100,000 cited 1991)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 niy
Glottolog ngit1239[2]

The Ngiti /əŋˈɡiːti/,[3] or South Lendu, is an ethnolinguistic group located in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ngiti speakers call their language Ndruna. In 1991, the Ngiti numbered 100,000 located in the Irumu territory south of Bunia.[4] During the Ituri conflict, the Front for Patriotic Resistance of Ituri was formed as a Ngiti militia group and political party.[5]

Unusual numeral system

Ngiti is reported to have a base-32 number system with base-4 cycles.[6] The following is a list of some Ngiti numerals.

Number Numeral
1 atdí
2 ɔyɔ
3 ɨ̀bhʉ
4 ɨ̀fɔ
8 àrʉ̀
12 otsi
16 ɔpɨ
20 àbà
24 àròtsí
28 àdzòro
32 wǎdhɨ̀
64 ɔyɔ wǎdhɨ̀
96 ɨ̀bhʉ wǎdhɨ̀
128 ɨ̀fɔ wǎdhɨ̀

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Ngiti at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Ngiti". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. ↑ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
  4. ↑ Ngiti from Ethnologue
  5. ↑ "DRC: Who's who in Ituri – militia organisations, leaders", IRIN, 20 April 2005
  6. ↑ Hammarström, Harald (2006), "Rarities in Numeral Systems", Proceedings of Rara & Rarissima Conference (PDF)


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, June 22, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.