Markwet language


Markwet is a Kalenjin language of Kenya. The regional terms Endo and Sambirir have been used for northern and southern Markweta, but they are not distinct dialects. The unmarked word order is Verb–subject–object.

Phonology

Vowels

Markweta has five basic vowels:. All vowels have variants based on tongue root position and length, for a total of 20 distinct vowel phonemes.
The vowels and are both pronounced like, and can only be distinguished by looking at affixes.

Consonants

Markweta has 13 consonants:
BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelar
Nasal
Plosive
Fricative
Approximant
Trill

Morphology

Markweta has gender. Gender is realized as a prefix added primarily for person nouns and animal names, but sometimes inanimate objects.
The prefixes kaa- and kii- are used to indicate nominalization.