Ngwii or Ngul is a
Bantu language
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...
spoken in the
Kwilu province
Kwilu is a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is one of the 21 provinces created in the 2015 repartitioning. Kwilu, Kwango, and Mai-Ndombe provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Bandundu province. Kwi ...
of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
.
Despite having a relatively small speech community, use of the language is prevalent.
Phonology
Ngwii has 37 consonants and 7 vowels:
Consonants
Vowels
Numerals
Like other Niger-Congo languages, Ngwii has a
base ten
The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of t ...
counting system where numbers after ten use the conjunction "''ni''" to add another number to reach higher values.
The first 20 numerals in Ngwii are
# ''mo''
# ''ipe''
# ''isar''
# ''ini''
# ''itɛan''
# ''isom''
# ''sjambja''
# ''ɲani''
# ''ɲa''
# ''dzum''
# ''dzum ni mo''
# ''dzum ni pe''
# ''dzum ni sar''
# ''dzum ni ni''
# ''dzum ni tjan''
# ''dzum ni som''
# ''dzum ni sjambja''
# ''dzum ni ɲani''
# ''dzum ni iwaj''
# ''dzum na dzum''
References
{{reflist
Bantu languages
Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kwilu Province