| 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 |
Ngadha (IPA:[ŋaᶑa], also spelledNgada,Ngadʼa orNgaʼda[2]) is anAustronesian language, one of six languages spoken in the central stretch of theIndonesian island ofFlores.[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 theSumba–Flores languages, according to Blust (2009).[4]
Djawanai (1983) precises that Ngadha somewhat deviates from Austronesian norms, in that words do not have clearcognates 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 aretroflex implosive/ᶑ /.
The sound system of Ngadha is as follows.[7]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə̆ | o |
| Low | a |
The short vowel/ə̆/ is written⟨e⟩ followed by a double consonant, since phonetically a consonant becomesgeminate 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', fromlima '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]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Retroflex | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | unaspirated | b | d̪ | dʒ | ɡ | ʔ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |||||
| implosive | ɓ | ᶑ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiced | v | z | ɣ | ||||
| voiceless | f | s | x | |||||
| Liquid | lateral | l | ||||||
| trill | r | |||||||
The implosives have been spelled⟨bʼ dʼ⟩,⟨ʼb ʼd⟩ and⟨bh dh⟩. Thevelarfricatives are spelled⟨h, gh⟩.[2]
Thetrill is short, and may have only one or two contacts.
Glottal stop contrasts with zero[clarification needed] in initial position, as ininu 'drink', or'inu 'tiny'. In rapid speech it tends to drop intervocalically[clarification needed].[10]
Phonetically[#C̩CV] words are analyzed as having an initialschwa. In initial position the consonant is always voiced (otherwise the schwa remains)[clarification needed]. Examples areemma[mma] 'father',emmu[mmu] 'mosquito',enna[nna] 'sand',Ennga[ŋŋa] (name),ebba[bba] 'swadling sling',ebbu[bbu] 'grandparents',Ebbo[bbo] (name),erro[rro] 'sun' – also in medial position with voiceless consonants, as inlimaessa[limassa] 'six'.[11]