Rendille language


Rendille is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Rendille people inhabiting northern Kenya. It is part of the family's Cushitic branch.
The Ariaal sub-group of the Rendille, who are of mixed Nilotic and Cushitic descent, speak the Nilo-Saharan Samburu language of the Samburu Nilotes, near whom they live.

Phonology

Consonants

  • /tɕ/ can be heard as by some speakers.
  • Some speakers always pronounce /x/ as a uvular stop .
  • can be heard as a free variant of /ħ/, or when /ħ/ is heard in intervocalic position.
  • Voiced sounds become voiceless when in word-final position.
  • /b/ can be pronounced as when preceding /ħ/, or as a fricative in intervocalic position.
  • /r/ can also freely be devoiced as in word-initial position, and is always heard as devoiced in word-final position.
  • /d̪/ can freely be heard as an affricate , and can also be heard as a fricative in intervocalic position.
  • /x/ can also be heard as an affricate when following nasal sounds.

    Vowels

  • Vowels /i, u, e, o/ are commonly heard as lax .