Hyam of Nok Phonology The Hyam Literacy Committee identifies the following 41/42 basic symbols in its orthography. a a̱ b c d dz e e̱ f g gb gh h hw hyw i i̱ j k kh kp l m n ng ny o p r s sh t th thn ts u v w y yw z zh Vowels (Vawel) Monophthongs Short Vowels (Vawella̱ Sha̱kuup) a a̱ e e̱ i i̱ o u Long Vowels (Vawella̱ Sha̱ceri) aa ee ii oo uu Diphthongs (Khwikhwir Vawel) ai au a̱u ou Consonants (Konsonan) b c d dh dz f g gy gb gh ghy h hw hwy hyw j k ky kh khy kp l m n nh ng ny p r s sh t th thn ts v w y yw z zh Numerals Hayab (2016:66) pinpoints, stating that "available data in Hyam by Koelle (1854: appendix, 2-188) and Meek (1931:120) reveals that the Ham contest in virtually a dissimilar way from what is obtained today." He added that it is apparent that the old counting system has been replaced with a Hausa styled one, and again states that "at present, the old style with ten (which was kop) now as ' shwak '. A case points is kop (ten) shows to be an incomplete number observing the evidence that ' mbwan shwak ' (11) suggests that we were a number away from shwak (twelve)." He then added that "this is because the word ' mbwan ' actually denotes bwat - short of or 'remaining'. The above can be said to be true, considering the case of Tyap, a related language, where the present word for ten is swak, while the word "kop/kwop" is almost extinct, just as in Hyam, and only used for counting in thousands. The word "thousand" in Tyap is cyi kop/kwop, meaning (considering the old usage of the word kop/kwop), "a hundred - ten times" or "100 X 10". These, according to Hayab (2016:66-67) are the numbers used at least 200 years ago for counting in Hyam. Lexicon The following is an abridged lexicon via the Hyam wordlist by Roger Blench. References Further reading Blench (2008) Prospecting proto-Plateau. Manuscript. John, P. H. (2017). Narratives of identity and sociocultural worldview in song texts of the Ham of Nigeria: a discourse analysis investigation. PhD Dissertation submitted to the University of Stellenbosch, Unpublished External links Narratives of identity and