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Rendille language

{{Short description|Afro-Asiatic language of Kenya}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Rendille

|altname=Afi Renꞌdille

|states=Kenya

|region=Eastern Province

|speakers={{sigfig|96,300|2}}

|ethnicity=Rendille

|script=Latin alphabet

|date=2019 census

|ref=e25

|familycolor=Afro-Asiatic

|fam2=Cushitic

|fam3=Lowland East

|fam4=Rendille–Boni

|iso3=rel

|glotto=rend1243

|glottorefname=Rendille

}}

Rendille (also known as Rendile, Randile) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Rendille people inhabiting northern Kenya. It is part of the family's Cushitic branch.[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=rel Ethnologue - Rendille]

The Ariaal sub-group of the Rendille, who are of mixed Nilotic and Cushitic descent, speak the Nilo-Saharan Samburu language of the Samburu Nilotes, near whom they live.{{cite book|last=Parris|first=Ronald G.|title=Rendille|year=1994|publisher=Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=0823917630|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rendille00parr/page/13 13]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/rendille00parr/page/13}}

Phonology

=Consonants=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
colspan="2" |

! Labial

! Dental/
alveolar

!Retroflex

! Post-alv./
Palatal

! Velar

!Uvular

!Pharyngeal

! Glottal

colspan="2" | Nasal

| {{IPAlink|m}}

| {{IPAlink|n̪}}

|

|{{IPA link|ɲ}}

|{{IPA link|ŋ}}

|

|

|

rowspan="2" | Plosive/
Affricate

! {{small|voiceless}}

|

| {{IPAlink|t̪}}

|

|{{IPAlink|tɕ}}

| {{IPAlink|k}}

|({{IPA link|q}})

|

|{{IPAlink|ʔ}}

{{small|voiced}}

| {{IPAlink|b}}

| {{IPAlink|d̪}}

|{{IPA link|ɖ}}

| {{IPAlink|dʑ}}

| {{IPAlink|g}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" | Fricative

| {{IPAlink|f}}

| {{IPAlink|s}}

|

|

| {{IPAlink|x}}

|

|{{IPAlink|ħ}} ~ {{IPA link|ʕ}}

| {{IPAlink|h}}

colspan="2" | Lateral

|

| {{IPAlink|l}}

|

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" | Trill

|

| {{IPAlink|r}}

|

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" | Glide

| {{IPAlink|w}}

|

|

| {{IPAlink|j}}

|

|

|

|

  • /tɕ/ can be heard as [ɕ] by some speakers.
  • Some speakers always pronounce /x/ as a uvular stop [q].
  • [ʕ] can be heard as a free variant of /ħ/, or when /ħ/ is heard in intervocalic position.
  • Voiced sounds become voiceless when in word-final position.
  • /b/ can be pronounced as [p] when preceding /ħ/, or as a fricative [β] in intervocalic position.
  • /r/ can also freely be devoiced as [r̥] in word-initial position, and is always heard as devoiced in word-final position.
  • /d̪/ can freely be heard as an affricate [d̪ð], and can also be heard as a fricative [ð] in intervocalic position.
  • /x/ can also be heard as an affricate [qχ] when following nasal sounds.

=Vowels=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
Front

!Central

Back
Close

| {{IPAlink|i}} {{IPAlink|iː}}

|

| {{IPAlink|u}} {{IPAlink|uː}}

Mid

| {{IPAlink|e}} {{IPAlink|eː}}

|

| {{IPAlink|o}} {{IPAlink|oː}}

Open

|

|{{IPAlink|a}} {{IPA link|aː}}

|

  • Vowels /i, u, e, o/ are commonly heard as lax [ɪ, ʊ, ɛ, ɔ].

Notes

{{Reflist}}

References

  • Harold C. Fleming, [http://www.jstor.org/stable/41299528 "Baiso and Rendille: Somali Outliers"], Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, 20 (1964), pp. 35–96.
  • Antoinette Oomen. 1981. "Gender and Plurality in Rendille," Afroasiatic Linguistics 8:35-75.
  • Steve Pillinger & Letiwa Galboran. 1999. A Rendille Dictionary, Including a Grammatical Outline and an English-Rendille Index. Cushitic Language Studies Volume 14. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
  • Heine, Bernd. 1976. Notes on the Rendille Language. In Afrika und Übersee LIX. 176-223
  • Günther Schlee. 1978. Sprachliche Studien zum Rendille. Hamburger Philologische Studien 46. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
  • Ronald J. Sim. 1981. "Morphophonemics of the Verb in Rendille," Afroasiatic Linguistics 8:1-33.

{{Languages of Kenya}}

{{Cushitic languages}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rendille Language}}

Category:Omo–Tana languages

Category:Languages of Kenya

{{AfroAsiatic-lang-stub}}

{{Kenya-stub}}