Temein language

Not to be confused with the Temein languages, a language family that includes Temein.

Temein, also known as Ron(g)e, is an Eastern Sudanic language spoken by the Temein people of the Nuba Hills in Sudan.

Temein
Ronge
Native to	Sudan
Region	Nuba Hills
Ethnicity	Temein
Native speakers	13,000 (2006)[1] (6,000 in the ancestral area, 7,000 scattered in other towns)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Southern Eastern Temein Temein
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	teq
Glottolog	nucl1339
ELP	Temein
Temein is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Ronge is an approximation of the endonym. Stevenson reports the people are ɔ̀rɔ́ŋɡɔ̀ʔ and the language lɔ́ŋɔ na rɔŋɛ; Dimmendaal has ɔ́ràntɛ̀t for a person, kààkɪ́nɪ́ ɔ́rɔ̀ŋɛ̀ for the people, and ŋɔ́nɔ́t ná ɔ́rɔ̀ŋɛ for the language.

Temein is spoken in Farik, Kuris, Kwiye, Nekring, Tokoing, Tukur, and Tulu villages (Ethnologue, 22nd edition).

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	voiceless	p	t̪	t		k
	voiced	b	d̪	d	ɟ	g
Nasal		m	n̪	n	ɲ	ŋ
Fricative				s
Rhotic				r
Approximant		w		l	j

• /p/ may have allophones of [ɸ, f] when in word-initial position.
• /s/ may have an allophone of [ʃ] in word-medial intervocalic positions.
• The sequence /nt/ can have an allophone of [ɽ] in intervocalic positions.^[2]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a