Nateni language

Nateni
Native to	Benin
Ethnicity	Gurma
Native speakers	110,000 (2021)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Gur Northern Oti–Volta Gurma Nateni
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Benin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ntm
Glottolog	nate1242

Nateni (Natemba) is a language of the Gurma people spoken in Benin. It is named after its principal dialect; the others are Tayari (Tayaba), Kunteni (Kuntemba), Okoni (Okoma).

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial–velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiced	b	d	ɟ
	voiceless	p	t	c	k	k͡p ⟨kp⟩
Continuant		f	s	j ⟨y⟩		w	h

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i, ĩ ⟨ḭ⟩	u, ũ ⟨ṵ⟩
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	ɛ, ɛ̃ ⟨ɛ̰⟩	ɔ, ɔ̃ ⟨ɔ̰⟩
Open	a, ã ⟨a̰⟩
Syllabic	n̩ ⟨n⟩

Writing system

Alphabet
uppercase	A	B	C	D	E	Ɛ	F	H	I	K	Kp	M	N	O	Ɔ	P	S	T	U	W	Y
lowercase	a	b	c	d	e	ɛ	f	h	i	k	kp	m	n	o	ɔ	p	s	t	u	w	y

The low tone is indicated with the grave accent and the high tone with the acute accent on the vowel ⟨à è ɛ̀ ì ò ɔ̀ ù á é ɛ́ í ó ɔ́ ú⟩ or the syllabic n ⟨ǹ ń⟩. The nasalization is indicated with the help of the tilde under the vowel ⟨a̰ ɛ̰ ḭ ɔ̰ ṵ⟩ which can be combined with the acute or grave accent indicating the tone ⟨á̰ ɛ̰́ ḭ́ ɔ̰́ ṵ́ à̰ ɛ̰̀ ḭ̀ ɔ̰̀ ṵ̀⟩.