View source for Oksapmin language

{{Short description|Trans–New Guinea language spoken in Papua New Guinea}}
{{for|the local-level government in Papua New Guinea|Oksapmin Rural LLG}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Oksapmin
|altname=Oksap
|nativename=''nuxule meŋ'' 'our language'
|states=[[Papua New Guinea]]
|region=[[Oksapmin Rural LLG]], [[Telefomin District]], [[Sandaun]]
|speakers=12,000 
|date=2005
|ref=e25
|familycolor=Papuan
|fam1=[[Trans–New Guinea languages|Trans–New Guinea]]
|iso3=opm
|glotto=oksa1245
|glottorefname=Oksapmin
|dia1=Upper Oksapmin
|dia2=Lower Oksapmin
|script=[[Latin script|Latin]]
|map=Oksapmin language.svg
|mapcaption=Map:  The Oksapmin language of New Guinea
{{legend|#FF5E5F|The Oksapmin language}}
{{legend|#7BB5B6|Other Trans–New Guinea languages}}
{{legend|#D9D9D9|Other Papuan languages}}
{{legend|#E09D00|Austronesian languages}}
{{legend|white|Uninhabited}}
|notice=IPA
}}

'''Oksapmin''' is a [[Trans–New Guinea languages|Trans–New Guinea]] language spoken in [[Oksapmin Rural LLG]], [[Telefomin District]], [[Sandaun]], [[Papua New Guinea]]. 
The two principal dialects are distinct enough to cause some problems with mutual intelligibility.

Oksapmin has [[dyadic kinship term]]s<ref name=lough>[http://conferences.arts.usyd.edu.au/program.php?cf=19 The Oksapmin Kinship System] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090920071406/http://conferences.arts.usyd.edu.au/program.php?cf=19 |date=2009-09-20 }}, retrieved May 21, 2009.</ref> and a body-part counting system that goes up to 27.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Saxe |first1=Geoffrey B. |last2=Moylan |first2=Thomas |year=1982 |title=The development of measurement operations among the Oksapmin of Papua New Guinea |journal=Child Development |volume=53 |issue=5 |pages=1242–1248 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8624.1982.tb04161.x |jstor=1129012}}.</ref> Notable ethnographic research by [[Geoffrey B Saxe|Geoffrey B. Saxe]] at UC Berkeley has documented the encounter between pre-contact uses of number and its cultural evolution under conditions of monetization and exposure to schooling and the formal economy among the Oksapmin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saxe |first=Geoffrey |title=Cultural development of mathematical ideas: Papua New Guinea studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2012 |isbn=9780521761666 |location=New York, NY}}</ref>

==Classification==
Oksapmin has been influenced by the [[Mountain Ok languages]] (the name "Oksapmin" is from [[Telefol language|Telefol]]), and the similarities with those languages were attributed to borrowing in the classifications of both [[Stephen Wurm]] (1975) and [[Malcolm Ross (linguist)|Malcolm Ross]] (2005), where Oksapmin was placed as an independent branch of Trans–New Guinea. Loughnane (2009)<ref name="lough2">{{harvp|Loughnane|2009}}</ref> and Loughnane and Fedden (2011)<ref name="lough3">{{Cite journal |last1=Loughnane |first1=Robyn |last2=Fedden |first2=Sebastian |date=2011 |title=Is Oksapmin Ok?—A Study of the Genetic Relationship between Oksapmin and the Ok Languages |journal=Australian Journal of Linguistics |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=1–42 |doi=10.1080/07268602.2011.533635|s2cid=58263200 |url=http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/792226/3/Loughnane%2C%20R.%20and%20S.%20Fedden%20-%20Is%20Oksapmin%20Ok.pdf }}</ref> conclude that it is related to the Ok languages, though those languages share innovative features not found in Oksapmin. Usher finds Oksapmin is not related to the Ok languages specifically, though it is related at some level to the southwestern branches of Trans–New Guinea.

==Phonology==

===Vowels===
There are six [[monophthong]]s, {{IPA|/i e ə a o u/}}, and one [[diphthong]], {{IPA|/ai/}}.

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!rowspan="2" colspan="2"|
!rowspan="2"| [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
!rowspan="2"| [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
!rowspan="2"| [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
!colspan="2"| [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! <small>unrounded</small>
! <small>[[Labialization|rounded]]</small>
|-
!colspan="2"| [[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|-
!rowspan="2"| [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
! [[Voiceless consonant|<small>voiceless</small>]]
|
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|kʷ}}
|-
! <small>[[Prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small>
| {{IPA link|ᵐb}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿd}}
|
| {{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
| {{IPA link|ᵑɡʷ}}
|-
!colspan="2"| [[Fricative]]
| {{IPA link|ɸ}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
| {{IPA link|x}}
| {{IPA link|xʷ}}
|-
!colspan="2"| [[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
|
|
|
|-
!colspan="2"| [[Semivowel]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
| {{IPA link|w}}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!Phoneme
!Allophone
|-
|{{IPAslink|t}}
|{{IPAblink|t}}, {{IPAblink|tʰ}}
|-
|{{IPAslink|k}}
|{{IPAblink|k}}, {{IPAblink|kʰ}}
|-
|{{IPAslink|ᵐb}}
|{{IPAblink|ᵐb}}, {{IPAblink|m}}
|-
|{{IPAslink|ⁿd}}
|{{IPAblink|ⁿd}}, {{IPAblink|n}}
|-
|{{IPAslink|ᵑɡ}}
|{{IPAblink|ᵑɡ}}, {{IPAblink|ŋ}}
|-
|{{IPAslink|ɸ}}
|{{IPAblink|ɸ}}, {{IPAblink|β}}, {{IPAblink|p}}, {{IPA|[{{IPAlink|pɸ}}~{{IPAlink|pʰ}}]}}
|-
|{{IPAslink|s}}
|{{IPAblink|s}}, {{IPAblink|z}}
|-
|{{IPAslink|x}}
|{{IPAblink|x}}, {{IPAblink|ɣ}}, {{IPAblink|ç}}, {{IPAblink|ʝ}}
|}

===Tone===
Oksapmin contrasts two [[tone (linguistics)|tones]]: high and low.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Loughnane |first=Robyn |title=A grammar of Oksapmin |date=2009 |degree=PhD |publisher=The University of Melbourne |url=http://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/35153 |hdl=11343/35153 |hdl-access=free }}

== External links ==
* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, [https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/trans-new-guinea/oksap Oksap]

{{Min peoples}}
{{Central and South New Guinea languages}}
{{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}

[[Category:Languages of Sandaun Province]]
[[Category:Languages of Southern Highlands Province]]
[[Category:Languages of Western Province (Papua New Guinea)]]
[[Category:Ok languages]]
[[Category:Trans–New Guinea languages]]