Abau language
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Abau | |
---|---|
Native to | Papua New Guinea |
Region | Sandaun |
Native speakers
|
7,300 (2000 census)[1] |
Sepik
|
|
Latin | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | aau |
Glottolog | abau1245 [2] |
Abau is a Papuan language spoken in the Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea, primarily along the shores of the Sepik River.
In 2002, there were estimated to be between 4,500 and 5,000 speakers, and this number does not appear to have declined since the first accurate count in the 1970s.
Abau is reported to have whistled speech.
Contents
Phonology
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Close-mid | e | ə | o |
Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
Open | a |
/ə/ appears only in medial positions.[3]
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | |||
Stop | p | k | |||
Fricative | s | h | |||
Flap | r | ||||
Approximant | j | w |
/r/ has several allophones: word-initially, it is [l], after /n/ it is [d], [r] intervocalically, and [t] or [ɺ] word-finally. /h/ becomes [ç] before /i/ and [ɸ] before /u/. Stops are voiced when following nasal consonants.[3]
Notes
- ↑ Abau at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Laycock (1965:116)
References
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Papuaweb - a collection of source materials on Abau (PDF format)
- Phonology Essentials - Abau Language - paper by Arjen Lock on phonology of the language (PDF format)
- Abau basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
- OLAC resources in and about the Abau language
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