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 .