b	b	ọbà (bowl)
bʲ	by	mbyadu (arrival)
bʰ	bʰ	ùbʰe (a sort of pear-ish fruit)
bʲʰ	byʰ	ọbyʰà (guest)
ɡ͡b	gb	m̀gbà (moment)
t͡ʃ	ch	àchàrà (grass)
t͡ʃʰ	chʰ	chʰaa (let)
d	d	edi (panther)
dʰ	dʰ	òdʰò (yolk, yellow)
f	f	fọ̀rọkọ̀ (blouse, shirt)
fʲ	fy	fyo (released air)
fⁿ	f̃	f̃ụ̀ (blow out)
g	g	gadaga (bridge)
gʰ	gʰ	ọ̀gʰịgʰa (maturity)
ɣ	gh	ọ̀ghị̀ghà (death)
gʷ	gw	ụgwọ (hate, hatred)
gʷʰ	gwʰ	ngwʰa (ornament, adornment)
h	h	èhì (day, date)
hⁿ	h̃	ọ̀h̃à (community)
hʲ	hy	àhyịhyị̀ (anger)
hⁿʲ	h̃y	èh̃yih̃yè (afternoon)
hʷ	hw	ihwē (to peel)
hⁿʷ	h̃w	ih̃wē (to search)
d͡ʒ	j	ǹjụ̀jụ̀ (broom)
d͡ʒʰ	jʰ	ijʰi (fly)
d͡ʒʲ	jy	jyà (system)
d͡ʒʲʰ	jyʰ	jyʰaà (lay down)
k	k	aka (arm, hand)
kʰ	kʰ	hekʰerema (exercise)
kʷ	kw	okwu (language, words)
kʷʰ	kwʰ	àkwʰụ̀kwʰà (verbal abuse)
l	l	àlà (land)
m	m	àmàr̃à (favor)
n	n	nanāǹdʰụ̀ (orange)
ɲ	ny	anya (eye, hole)
ŋ	ṅ	ṅàr̃ị ṅàr̃ị (a flirt, flirtation)
ŋʷ	nw	nwe (have, own)
p	p	pughu (8,000)
pʰ	pʰ	ịpʰụ̄ (to drag)
pʲ	py	ripyà (eat up)
pʲʰ	pyʰ	ịpyʰā (to flog)
k͡p	kp	m̀kpùru (secret)
ɾ	r	ìri (ten)
ɾʲ	ry	oryè (market day)
ɾⁿ	r̃	ir̃i (food)
s/ʃ	s/sh	osisi/oshishi (tree)
sⁿ/ʃⁿ	s̃/s̃h	ìs̃e/ìs̃he (five)
sʲ/ʃʲ	sy/shy	syà/shyà (whittle at something)
t	t	etegha (zero)
tʰ	tʰ	tʰe (awaken)
v	v	ivu (load)
vⁿ	ṽ	iṽō (door)
w	w	ụ̀wala (side)
j	y	iyī (to schedule)
z	z	ezi (correctness)
zⁿ	z̃	ez̃iz̃i (teaching)

gʰ	gʰ	ịgʰā (to mature) - aspiration
gⁿʰ	g̃ʰ	ịg̃ʰā (to mature) - aspiration + nasalization
gⁿ	g̃	ịg̃ā (to mature) - nasalization

bʰ	bʰ	ubʰe (a sort of pear-ish fruit) - aspiration
bⁿʰ	b̃ʰ	ùb̃ʰe (a sort of pear-ish fruit) - aspiration + nasalization
bⁿ	b̃	ùb̃e (a sort of pear-ish fruit) - nasalization

ChinenyeN:
I've spent quite a bit of time studying morphology, lexicology and grammar in general and applying a lot of that to my studies of Ngwa, Igbo and proto-Igbo. One product of my studies is that I do have a definitive alphabet that captures the full phonology of surviving Ngwa speech patterns. Basically, I have a full aphabet, and I don't mind sharing it here.

I'll start with vowels. Ngwa, like most Igbo lects has a typical eight-vowel system. However, I have noted an additional vowel that appears often in Ngwa, but seemingly goes unrecognized in Izugbe (Standard Igbo). Here is the vowel system I've devised with IPA representation in parenthesis.

+ATR vowels
u (u), i (i), o (o), e (e)

-ATR vowels
ụ (ʊ), ị (ɪ), ọ (ɔ), ẹ (ɛ)

Neutral vowel
a (a)

The additional vowel I noted is /ẹ/. It is unrecognized in Izugbe, but appears in many lects, including Ngwa.

Now, the consonants. Like the vowel system, Ngwa shares a lot with other Igbo lects. However, just as with the vowel system, I have had to take additional liberties to modify the consonant system so that it reflects surviving Ngwa phonology. You can see the consonant list below.

The listing below is structured like such:
IPA Representation - Plain Latin Text - Example word (meaning)

b	b	ọbà (bowl)
bʲ	by	mbyadu (arrival)
bʰ	bʰ	ùbʰe (a sort of pear-ish fruit)
bʲʰ	byʰ	ọbyʰà (guest)
ɡ͡b	gb	m̀gbà (moment)
t͡ʃ	ch	àchàrà (grass)
t͡ʃʰ	chʰ	chʰaa (let)
d	d	edi (panther)
dʰ	dʰ	òdʰò (yolk, yellow)
f	f	fọ̀rọkọ̀ (blouse, shirt)
fʲ	fy	fyo (released air)
fⁿ	f̃	f̃ụ̀ (blow out)
g	g	gadaga (bridge)
gʰ	gʰ	ọ̀gʰịgʰa (maturity)
ɣ	gh	ọ̀ghị̀ghà (death)
gʷ	gw	ụgwọ (hate, hatred)
gʷʰ	gwʰ	ngwʰa (ornament, adornment)
h	h	èhì (day, date)
hⁿ	h̃	ọ̀h̃à (community)
hʲ	hy	àhyịhyị̀ (anger)
hⁿʲ	h̃y	èh̃yih̃yè (afternoon)
hʷ	hw	ihwē (to peel)
hⁿʷ	h̃w	ih̃wē (to search)
d͡ʒ	j	ǹjụ̀jụ̀ (broom)
d͡ʒʰ	jʰ	ijʰi (fly)
d͡ʒʲ	jy	jyà (system)
d͡ʒʲʰ	jyʰ	jyʰaà (lay down)
k	k	aka (arm, hand)
kʰ	kʰ	hekʰerema (exercise)
kʷ	kw	okwu (language, words)
kʷʰ	kwʰ	àkwʰụ̀kwʰà (verbal abuse)
l	l	àlà (land)
m	m	àmàr̃à (favor)
n	n	nanāǹdʰụ̀ (orange)
ɲ	ny	anya (eye, hole)
ŋ	ṅ	ṅàr̃ị ṅàr̃ị (a flirt, flirtation)
ŋʷ	nw	nwe (have, own)
p	p	pughu (8,000)
pʰ	pʰ	ịpʰụ̄ (to drag)
pʲ	py	ripyà (eat up)
pʲʰ	pyʰ	ịpyʰā (to flog)
k͡p	kp	m̀kpùru (secret)
ɾ	r	ìri (ten)
ɾʲ	ry	oryè (market day)
ɾⁿ	r̃	ir̃i (food)
s/ʃ	s/sh	osisi/oshishi (tree)
sⁿ/ʃⁿ	s̃/s̃h	ìs̃e/ìs̃he (five)
sʲ/ʃʲ	sy/shy	syà/shyà (whittle at something)
t	t	etegha (zero)
tʰ	tʰ	tʰe (awaken)
v	v	ivu (load)
vⁿ	ṽ	iṽō (door)
w	w	ụ̀wala (side)
j	y	iyī (to schedule)
z	z	ezi (correctness)
zⁿ	z̃	ez̃iz̃i (teaching)

Actually, I did leave one thing out of this consonant list. There are a number of consonant examples above that show aspiration (i.e. tʰe, ọbyʰà, àkwʰụ̀kwʰà). In actuality, aspiration in Ngwa is originally nasalization. We see this in everyday speech from different Ngwa speakers. Where there are Ngwa speakers who use aspiration, there are also Ngwa speakers who use aspiration + nasalation for those same expressions and additionally, there are Ngwa speakers that use only nasalation for those same expressions. Here are some examples of what I mean below.

gʰ	gʰ	ịgʰā (to mature) - aspiration
gⁿʰ	g̃ʰ	ịg̃ʰā (to mature) - aspiration + nasalization
gⁿ	g̃	ịg̃ā (to mature) - nasalization

bʰ	bʰ	ubʰe (a sort of pear-ish fruit) - aspiration
bⁿʰ	b̃ʰ	ùb̃ʰe (a sort of pear-ish fruit) - aspiration + nasalization
bⁿ	b̃	ùb̃e (a sort of pear-ish fruit) - nasalization

Notice that the change in phonology in this case does not change the meaning of the word. This transition between aspiration, aspiration + nasalization and nasalization is applicable to all consonants that use aspiration in Ngwa. I left it out of the list of consonants, because it would become noisy. It will be too much reduplication of words. It is less helpful to explicity add it and more helpful to leave a note saying that one should assume that all instances of aspiration can also be rendered as aspiration + nasalization or simply as nasalization in its own right, and it would retain its meaning.

All of this is my analysis of Ngwa and the sort of alphabet that would be necessary to capture its full phonology.

ChinenyeN:
The only thing I would disagree on is the case of /nw/. It very much exists, but I know what you are referring to when you say that it is missing. And you're not wrong. There is this feature of reducing /nw/ to /w/ in many cases in Ngwa.

For example, the expression "ga ra nwa ahu", is actually spoken (and written) by many Ngwa people as "ga ra wa ahu".

Another example is the phrase "nwa whne" that is actually spoken (and written) as "wa whne" or "wa hne".

This reduction happens in names as well. So a "Nwangwa" can often be pronounced as "Wangwa" and so on and so forth.

But there are instances in which /nw/ is not reduced to /w/. For example, "igba onwe" (to trade), "inwu anagh/anaa" (to verify or investigate, research), and so on and so forth.

RedboneSmith:
Are you perfectly sure there is no 'Nw' in the Ngwa dialect (or dialects, because I get the impression that there are more than one way to speak Ngwa)? I listen to people when they talk, and I can swear I have heard Ngwa people use 'nw' in their speech.

Also when yoy write Wachuku with a k and not a kw, are you also saying there is no kw sound in Ngwa, or that there is, but Ngwa people don't use it when pronouncing Chukwu?

ImembaN:
..
I never insinuate that KW is absent...
But according to how I'm thought (by my parents) to write Chuku.. their should be no KW in it...

Secondly most Ngwa in urban areas don't speak Ngwa to non Ngwa..(I wish this can stop)..
So to access the true Ngwa language visit the villages and don't use what you see in Aba to judge Ngwa opinion on anything.... Because most people claiming wa-Ngwa in ABA are actually from Onitsha...

RedboneSmith:


Okay. I see.
..


When I say I have listened to Ngwa people speaking their dialects, I wasn't saying they were talking to me. No. They were having conversations among themselves and I was just listening in. Like when my Ngwa neighbor in Enugu that year was visited by relatives from the village and they held conversations in concentrated Ngwa.

ChinenyeN:
[s]I've spent quite a bit of time studying morphology, lexicology and grammar in general and applying a lot of that to my studies of Ngwa, Igbo and proto-Igbo. One product of my studies is that I do have a definitive alphabet that captures the full phonology of surviving Ngwa speech patterns. Basically, I have a full aphabet, and I don't mind sharing it here.

I'll start with vowels. Ngwa, like most Igbo lects has a typical eight-vowel system. However, I have noted an additional vowel that appears often in Ngwa, but seemingly goes unrecognized in Izugbe (Standard Igbo). Here is the vowel system I've devised with IPA representation in parenthesis.

+ATR vowels
u (u), i (i), o (o), e (e)

-ATR vowels
ụ (ʊ), ị (ɪ), ọ (ɔ), ẹ (ɛ)

Neutral vowel
a (a)

The additional vowel I noted is /ẹ/. It is unrecognized in Izugbe, but appears in many lects, including Ngwa.

Now, the consonants. Like the vowel system, Ngwa shares a lot with other Igbo lects. However, just as with the vowel system, I have had to take additional liberties to modify the consonant system so that it reflects surviving Ngwa phonology. You can see the consonant list below.

The listing below is structured like such:
IPA Representation - Plain Latin Text - Example word (meaning)

b	b	ọbà (bowl)
bʲ	by	mbyadu (arrival)
bʰ	bʰ	ùbʰe (a sort of pear-ish fruit)
bʲʰ	byʰ	ọbyʰà (guest)
ɡ͡b	gb	m̀gbà (moment)
t͡ʃ	ch	àchàrà (grass)
t͡ʃʰ	chʰ	chʰaa (let)
d	d	edi (panther)
dʰ	dʰ	òdʰò (yolk, yellow)
f	f	fọ̀rọkọ̀ (blouse, shirt)
fʲ	fy	fyo (released air)
fⁿ	f̃	f̃ụ̀ (blow out)
g	g	gadaga (bridge)
gʰ	gʰ	ọ̀gʰịgʰa (maturity)
ɣ	gh	ọ̀ghị̀ghà (death)
gʷ	gw	ụgwọ (hate, hatred)
gʷʰ	gwʰ	ngwʰa (ornament, adornment)
h	h	èhì (day, date)
hⁿ	h̃	ọ̀h̃à (community)
hʲ	hy	àhyịhyị̀ (anger)
hⁿʲ	h̃y	èh̃yih̃yè (afternoon)
hʷ	hw	ihwē (to peel)
hⁿʷ	h̃w	ih̃wē (to search)
d͡ʒ	j	ǹjụ̀jụ̀ (broom)
d͡ʒʰ	jʰ	ijʰi (fly)
d͡ʒʲ	jy	jyà (system)
d͡ʒʲʰ	jyʰ	jyʰaà (lay down)
k	k	aka (arm, hand)
kʰ	kʰ	hekʰerema (exercise)
kʷ	kw	okwu (language, words)
kʷʰ	kwʰ	àkwʰụ̀kwʰà (verbal abuse)
l	l	àlà (land)
m	m	àmàr̃à (favor)
n	n	nanāǹdʰụ̀ (orange)
ɲ	ny	anya (eye, hole)
ŋ	ṅ	ṅàr̃ị ṅàr̃ị (a flirt, flirtation)
ŋʷ	nw	nwe (have, own)
p	p	pughu (8,000)
pʰ	pʰ	ịpʰụ̄ (to drag)
pʲ	py	ripyà (eat up)
pʲʰ	pyʰ	ịpyʰā (to flog)
k͡p	kp	m̀kpùru (secret)
ɾ	r	ìri (ten)
ɾʲ	ry	oryè (market day)
ɾⁿ	r̃	ir̃i (food)
s/ʃ	s/sh	osisi/oshishi (tree)
sⁿ/ʃⁿ	s̃/s̃h	ìs̃e/ìs̃he (five)
sʲ/ʃʲ	sy/shy	syà/shyà (whittle at something)
t	t	etegha (zero)
tʰ	tʰ	tʰe (awaken)
v	v	ivu (load)
vⁿ	ṽ	iṽō (door)
w	w	ụ̀wala (side)
j	y	iyī (to schedule)
z	z	ezi (correctness)
zⁿ	z̃	ez̃iz̃i (teaching)

Actually, I did leave one thing out of this consonant list. There are a number of consonant examples above that show aspiration (i.e. tʰe, ọbyʰà, àkwʰụ̀kwʰà). In actuality, aspiration in Ngwa is originally nasalization. We see this in everyday speech from different Ngwa speakers. Where there are Ngwa speakers who use aspiration, there are also Ngwa speakers who use aspiration + nasalation for those same expressions and additionally, there are Ngwa speakers that use only nasalation for those same expressions. Here are some examples of what I mean below.

gʰ	gʰ	ịgʰā (to mature) - aspiration
gⁿʰ	g̃ʰ	ịg̃ʰā (to mature) - aspiration + nasalization
gⁿ	g̃	ịg̃ā (to mature) - nasalization

bʰ	bʰ	ubʰe (a sort of pear-ish fruit) - aspiration
bⁿʰ	b̃ʰ	ùb̃ʰe (a sort of pear-ish fruit) - aspiration + nasalization
bⁿ	b̃	ùb̃e (a sort of pear-ish fruit) - nasalization

Notice that the change in phonology in this case does not change the meaning of the word. This transition between aspiration, aspiration + nasalization and nasalization is applicable to all consonants that use aspiration in Ngwa. I left it out of the list of consonants, because it would become noisy. It will be too much reduplication of words. It is less helpful to explicity add it and more helpful to leave a note saying that one should assume that all instances of aspiration can also be rendered as aspiration + nasalization or simply as nasalization in its own right, and it would retain its meaning.

All of this is my analysis of Ngwa and the sort of alphabet that would be necessary to capture its full phonology[/s].

ImembaN:
..
Thank you the above..
I really appreciate...
...
I thought it gonna be easy ..
I won't mind if you step a bit down to my level and to many who might not be academicaly sound to grasp the above..
...

a    b    gb   d    e
f    g    gh   h    i    ị
j    k    l    m    n
ṅ    o    ọ    p    kp
r    s    sh   t    u    ụ
v    w    y    z    ch
gw   kw   nw   ny   wh

ImembaN:
..
In my place Igba Ibe ...I don't know if it is same as Igba onwe (I'm not that good in speaking Ngwa )..
But there is one thing I believe in ...and that is the fact that our language has been bastardized...

ChinenyeN:


[s]No worries. I've actually thought about this before, so I have an answer. If we want to go with something simple (be it with less lexical/phonological representation for Ngwa), we can probably skip the following:

1. Palatalization (i.e. the /y/ in some cases like /by/ or /fy/). Many speakers have gotten very much accustomed to using a consonant with the letter /i/ to represent palatalized sounds. So we can ignore palatalization and use the existing writing conventions.

2. Aspiration (i.e. the use of the special /h/ after a consonant like /bʰ/). In many cases, writing aspiration without the special /ʰ/ character can create ambiguity. For example, igha (to lie) is indistinguishable from igha (to mature). In the case of "to lie", the /gh/ is the same sound as "ighe" (to fry, cook), but in the case of "to mature", the /gh/ is a hard /g/ with aspiration or nasalization. This can be a constant source of ambiguity, and other instances of aspiration without the special character can make the text look cluttered. So we can ignore aspiration and use the existing writing conventions.

However, we can keep nasalization in some specific cases where it has become convention for Ngwa speakers to write it, i.e. /hn/, /whn/ or /hnw/, and /rn/.

So now that all that prefacing is done, we can probably get a way with a simplified alphabet that looks like the following:

a    b    gb   d    e
f    g    gh   h    i    ị
j    k    l    m    n
ṅ    o    ọ    p    kp
r    s    sh   t    u    ụ
v    w    y    z    ch
gw   kw   nw   ny   wh

This format is my own personal structuring of the alphabet. I think it is the most intuitive, because rather than the imported melody of "a bi chi di" (mirroring the "a b c d" elementary song), "a bi gbe di" sound far more native/natural in my ear. I’ve attached an audio recording I did when I structured this alphabet in 2014. Let me know if you’re unable to play it.[/s]

ChinenyeN:


No worries. I've actually thought about this before, so I have an answer. If we want to go with something simple (be it with less lexical/phonological representation for Ngwa), we can probably skip the following:

1. Palatalization (i.e. the /y/ in some cases like /by/ or /fy/). Many speakers have gotten very much accustomed to using a consonant with the letter /i/ to represent palatalized sounds. So we can ignore palatalization and use the existing writing conventions.

2. Aspiration (i.e. the use of the special /h/ after a consonant like /bʰ/). In many cases, writing aspiration without the special /ʰ/ character can create ambiguity. For example, igha (to lie) is indistinguishable from igha (to mature). In the case of "to lie", the /gh/ is the same sound as "ighe" (to fry, cook), but in the case of "to mature", the /gh/ is a hard /g/ with aspiration or nasalization. This can be a constant source of ambiguity, and other instances of aspiration without the special character can make the text look cluttered. So we can ignore aspiration and use the existing writing conventions.

However, we can keep nasalization in some specific cases where it has become convention for Ngwa speakers to write it, i.e. /hn/, /whn/ or /hnw/, and /rn/.

So now that all that prefacing is done, we can probably get a way with a simplified alphabet that looks like the following:

a    b    gb   d    e
f    g    gh   h    i    ị
j    k    l    m    n
ṅ    o    ọ    p    kp
r    s    sh   t    u    ụ
v    w    y    z    ch
gw   kw   nw   ny   wh

This format is my own personal structuring of the alphabet. I think it is the most intuitive, because rather than the imported melody of "a bi chi di" (mirroring the "a b c d" elementary song), "a bi gbe di" sound far more native/natural in my ear. I’ve attached an audio recording I did when I structured this alphabet in 2014. Let me know if you’re unable to play it.

ChinenyeN:
/wh/ and /hw/ are interchangeable. One Ngwa linguist, Dr. Oluikpe, used the /hw/ in his publications because it is phonologically related to the /h/ sound, and I agree with him. It's just that almost all Ngwa speakers have grown accustomed to the convention of using /wh/ in writing. I think this is because words like "when", "why", etc. are the closest thing to capturing the sound in English, so it became convention to use /wh/. But in your case, feel free to use /hw/. Everyone should still know what you mean. Even me, I switch between the two often when I write.