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).

Nateni
Native toBenin
EthnicityGurma
Native speakers
110,000 (2021)[1]
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3ntm
Glottolognate1242

Writing system

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Alphabet[2]
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⟩.

References

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  1. ^ Nateni at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)  
  2. ^ "Nateni written with Latin script: Symbols & Characters". ScriptSource.org.