View source for Paicî language

{{short description|Austronesian language spoken in New Caledonia}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Paicî
|nativename=
|states=[[New Caledonia]]
|region=East coast between Poindimié and Ponérihouen and inland valleys
|speakers={{sigfig|7250|2}}
|date=2009 census
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Austronesian
|fam2=[[Malayo-Polynesian languages|Malayo-Polynesian]] 
|fam3=[[Oceanic languages|Oceanic]]
|fam4=[[Southern Oceanic languages|Southern Oceanic]]
|fam5=[[Languages of New Caledonia|New Caledonian – Loyalties]]
|fam6=[[New Caledonian languages|New Caledonian]]
|fam7=[[Northern New Caledonian languages|Northern New Caledonian]]
|fam8=[[Central Northern New Caledonian languages|Central Northern]]
|iso3=pri
|glotto=paic1239
|glottorefname=Paici
|notice=IPA
|map             = Lang Status 99-NE.svg
|mapcaption      = {{center|{{small|Paicî is not endangered according to the classification system of the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''}}}}
}}

'''Paicî''' is the most widely spoken of the two dozen languages on the main island of [[New Caledonia]]. It is spoken in a band across the center of the island, in the [[Communes of France|communes]] of [[Poindimié]], [[Ponérihouen]], [[Koné, New Caledonia|Koné]] and [[Poya, New Caledonia|Poya]].

==Phonology==

Paicî has a rather simple inventory of consonants, compared to other languages of New Caledonia, but it has an unusually large number of nasal vowels. Paicî syllables are restricted to [[consonant|(C)]][[vowel|V]].<ref name="GM">Gordon & Maddieson ([[#GM|1996]]).</ref>

===Consonants===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
! rowspan=2 colspan=2 |&nbsp;
! colspan=2|[[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! rowspan=2| [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]
! rowspan=2| [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan=2| [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-class=small
!plain
![[labialization|labial]]
|-
!colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}} || {{IPA link|mʷ}} || {{IPA link|n̠}} || {{IPA link|ɲ}} || {{IPA link|ŋ}} 
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]] || <small>voiceless</small>
| {{IPA link|p}} || {{IPA link|pʷ}} || {{IPA link|t̠}} || {{IPA link|c}} || {{IPA link|k}} 
|- 
! <small>[[Prenasalization|prenasalized]]</small>
| {{IPA link|ᵐb}} || {{IPA link|ᵐbʷ}} || {{IPA link|ⁿ̠d̠}} || {{IPA link|ᶮɟ}} || {{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
|- 
!colspan=2| [[Tap consonant|Tap]] 
| || || {{IPA link|ɾ̠}} || ||
|-
! colspan=2|[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| || || {{IPA link|l̠}} || {{IPA link|j}} || {{IPA link|w}}
|}

The palatal stops could be considered affricates because they occur with a heavily fricated release. The lateral and tap do not occur word-initially, except in a few loanwords and the prefix {{IPA|/ɾɜ/}} ''they''.<ref name="GM"/>

Because nasal stops are always followed by nasal vowels, but prenasalized stops are always followed by oral vowels, it might be argued that nasal and prenasalized stops are [[allophone|allophonic]], which would reduce the Paicî consonant inventory to 13.

===Vowels===
Paicî has a symmetrical system of ten oral vowels, all found both long and short without any significant difference in quality, and seven nasal vowels, some of which may also be long and short. Because sequences of two short vowels may carry two tones but long vowels are restricted to carrying one tone, they appear to be phonemically long vowels rather than sequences.<ref name="GM"/>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Paicî vowel phonemes
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" align="center"| [[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" align="center"| [[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="2" align="center"| [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! align="center"| Oral
! align="center"| Nasal
! align="center"| Oral
! align="center"| Nasal
! align="center"| Oral
! align="center"| Nasal
|-
! align="center" | [[Close vowel|Close]] 
| align="center"| {{IPA link|i}} || align="center"| {{IPA link|ĩ}} || align="center"| {{IPA link|ɨ}}|| align="center"| {{IPA link|ɨ̃}}|| align="center"| {{IPA link|u}}|| align="center"| {{IPA link|ũ}}
|-
! align="center" | [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]] 
| align="center"| {{IPA link|e}} || rowspan="2" align="center"| {{IPA link|ɛ̃}} || align="center"| {{IPA link|ɘ}}|| rowspan="2" align="center"| {{IPA link|ɜ̃}}|| align="center"| {{IPA link|o}}|| rowspan="2" align="center"| {{IPA link|ɔ̃}}
|-
! align="center" | [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]] 
| align="center"| {{IPA link|ɛ}} || align="center"| {{IPA link|ɜ}}|| align="center"| {{IPA link|ɔ}}
|-
! align="center" | [[Open vowel|Open]] 
| colspan="2" align="center"| || align="center"| {{IPA link|a}}|| align="center"| {{IPA link|ɐ̃}}|| colspan="2" align="center"| 
|}

===Tones===
Like its neighbour [[Cèmuhî]], Paicî is one of the few [[Austronesian languages]] which have developed [[tone (linguistics)|contrastive tone]],<ref>Rivierre ([[#tones|1974]]).</ref> involving three registers: high, mid, low. Additionally, there are vowels with no inherent tone, whose tone is determined by their environment. Words commonly have the same tone on all vowels, so tone may belong to the word rather than the syllable.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal|last=Gordon|first=Matthew|last2=Maddieson|first2=Ian|title=The phonetics of Paici|journal=UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics|date=Dec 1996|volume=93|url=http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/gordon/paicivowels.pdf|ref=GM}}
* {{cite journal|last=Rivierre|first=Jean-Claude|title=Tons et segments du discours en langue paicî (Nouvelle-Calédonie)|journal=[[Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris]]|year=1974|volume=69|issue=1|pages=325–340|ref=tones}}
* Rivierre, Jean-Claude. 1983. ''Dictionnaire paicî - français, suivi d'un lexique français - paicî''. Paris : Société d'Etudes linguistiques et anthropologiques de France, 1983. 375p.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Portal|Languages}}
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/paici.htm Alphabet and pronunciation] at ''Omniglot''
* [http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/ALC/Languages/Paici_popup.htm Information on Paicî, with a list of references and a recorded text] (website of [[LACITO]]-[[CNRS]])

{{Languages of New Caledonia}}
{{Southern Oceanic languages}}
{{Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paici Language}}
[[Category:New Caledonian languages]]
[[Category:Languages of New Caledonia]]
[[Category:Tonal languages in non-tonal families]]