| Engdewu | |
| Also Known As: | Nanggu |
| States: | Solomon Islands |
| Region: | Nendo Island |
| Coordinates: | -10.7333°N 218°W |
| Speakers: | 210 |
| Date: | 1999 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam3: | Oceanic |
| Fam4: | Temotu ? |
| Fam5: | Reefs – Santa Cruz |
| Iso3: | ngr |
| Glotto: | nang1262 |
| Glottorefname: | Nanggu |
Engdewu, also known as Nanggu or Nagu, is one of two Reefs – Santa Cruz languages spoken on Nendö Island (the other is Santa Cruz).
The language used to be known by outsiders as Nanggu (pronounced as /naᵑɡu/), from the name of one of the villages where it is still spoken. This name is also spelled Nangu or Nagu.
The local population prefers to name the language Engdewu, after the name of the ancient village where it was initially spoken.[1] This name has now been adopted by linguists.
A description of the language was produced in 2013 by linguist Anders Vaa.
Nanggu has 14 phonemic consonants.
| Velar | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
Vaa (2013) consistently uses pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/, which he describes as "lamino-palatoalveolar."
Nanggu has ten phonemic vowels.
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | ʉ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Close-mid | pronounced as /link/ | ɵ | ||
| Open-Mid | ɛ | ɞ | ɔ | |
| Open | a | ɒ |