Ngeté-Herdé language

Afro-Asiatic dialect cluster of Chad

Ngeté-Herdé
Lame
Zime
Native to	Chad
Native speakers	(50,000 cited 1991–1999)^[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic Masa South Peve–Kaɗo Ngeté-Herdé
Dialects	Dzəpaw Ngeté He’dé
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: `nnn` – Ngete `hed` – Herdé
Glottolog	`nget1241` Ngete `herd1236` Herde

Ngeté-Herdé, also known as Lamé, is an Afro-Asiatic dialect cluster of Chad. Varieties are:

Zime is a generic name.

Phonology

The following is the He’dé dialect:

		Labial	Alveolar		Post-alv./ Palatal		Velar	Glottal
		Labial	plain	lateral	Post-alv./ Palatal		Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ		ŋ
Stop/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t		t͡ʃ		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d		d͡ʒ		ɡ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd		ⁿd͡ʒ		ᵑɡ
	implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɬ				h
Fricative	voiced	v	z	ɮ				ɦ
Tap/Trill		ⱱ	r
Approximant				l	j	ˀj	w

/w/ may occasionally be heard as a labio-palatal [ɥ] when before front vowels.

Sounds /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ⁿd͡ʒ/ are realized as affricates [t͡s, d͡z, ⁿd͡z] among other dialects.

Sounds /e, ẽ/ and /o, õ/ may also be realized as more open [ɛ, ɛ̃] and [ɔ, ɔ̃], when in syllable-final positions.^[3]

^ Ngete at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Herdé at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List (ms)
^ Sachnine, Michka (1982). Le Lamé vùn-dzə̀pàò: Un parler zimé du Nord-Cameroun (langue tchadique). Paris: SELAF.