Nichoh language

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Nichoh
Ñichôj
Pronunciation[ɲitʃôh]
EthnicityXuni
Language family
Early forms:
Official status
Official language inQuaxin Xun
CWS codecho

The Nichoh language is a Ngerupic dialect cluster spoken in the highland regions of Quaxin Xun.

Background

Nichoh is part of the Tuŋñi subfamily of the Mañic languages. It shares with its sister language Ndxiixun palatalization of liquids, development of labiovelars from Cw clusters, and radical cluster simplification which co-occured with the development of ballistic syllables.

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Labiovelar Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋʷ ŋ
Tenuis plosive p t k ʔ
Prenasalized plosive/affricate ᵐb ⁿd ⁿd͡ʒ ᵑgʷ ᵑg
Affricate t͡s t͡ʃ
Lateral affricate t͡ɬ
Fricative s z ʃ h
Lateral fricative ɬ
Approximant j w ɰ
Tap ɾ
Lateral app. l ʎ

Vowels

Front Near-front Near-back Back
Close i ĩ u ũ
Mid e o
Open a ã

Tone

Vowels may have three level tones: high, mid, or low, as well as a falling contour tone.

Phonotactics

Nichoh has a (C)(C)(C)V(C) syllable structure. The consonants /w ɰ j ʔ h/ are permitted syllable-finally. A wide range of syllable initial clusters are allowed, such as zmą "ząm", jsè "four", and sñchu "kassod". Due to metathesis affecting the citation and present tense forms, they are especially common in verbs, such as ctza "to shout", tzpa "to cut", or xcha "to scream."