Markwet language

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

Markwet
Native to	Kenya
Ethnicity	Marakwet
Native speakers	180,000 (2009 census)[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Nilotic Southern Nilotic Kalenjin Nandi–Markweta Markwet
Dialects	Endo (Northern) Sambirir (Southern)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	enb
Glottolog	mark1255

Phonology

Vowels

Markweta has five basic vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/. All vowels have variants based on tongue root position and length, for a total of 20 distinct vowel phonemes.

The vowels /o:/ and /a:/ are both pronounced like /ɔ:/, and can only be distinguished by looking at affixes.^[2]

Consonants

Markweta has 13 consonants:

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	p	t	c	k
Fricative		s
Approximant		l	j	w
Trill		r

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.