Nii language

Nii is a Trans–New Guinea language of the Chimbu–Wahgi branch spoken in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Nii
Ek Nii
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionWestern Highlands Province
Native speakers
(12,000 cited 1991)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3nii
Glottologniii1240

Nii has an unusual number of lateral consonants: a typical dental approximant, /l̪/, plus both dental and velar lateral fricatives, /ɬ̪/ and /𝼄/, which are optionally voiced between vowels and do not occur in initial position.[2]

Phonology

Vowels
Front Central Back
High iu
Near-High ɪ
Mid eo
Open ɑ

Consonants
Nii Consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive voiceless p (t̪)[lower-alpha 1] (t)[lower-alpha 2] k
prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ⁿdz ᵑɡ
Fricative s̪
Trill r̝
Lateral ɬ̪ l ʟ̝̊
Approximant w j
  1. Allophone of /s̪/
  2. Allophone of /r̝/

References
  1. Nii at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Foley, 1986:63, The Papuan languages of New Guinea

Further reading
  • Stucky, Al (1994). "Organised Phonology Data" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Stucky, Alfred and Dellene Stucky 1973. "Nii phonology", in Alan Healey (ed.), Studies in languages of the Ok family, "Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages" 2, pp. 37-78. ,


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