Wutung language
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".<templatestyles src="Template:Infobox/styles-images.css" />Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". Template:GeoGroupTemplate Wutung (Udung), Musu, and Nyao, are dialects of a unnamed Skou language of Papua New Guinea. They are spoken in Bewani/Wutung Onei Rural LLG of Sandaun Province.
Sangke and the language of several other villages of the interior are reported to be similar, and may be dialects.
Tok Pisin and English are widely spoken in the area, and many Wutung people speak Indonesian too.[1][2]
Location
Wutung village (Script error: No such module "Coordinates".) is in Sandaun Province, on the northern coast and adjacent to the border with Indonesia. There are about 600 living in Wutung village, most of whom speak Wutung. Traditional Wutung land extends across the border to the Tami River, but while people garden plots in that expanse they all live in the village.
The nearby villages of Musu (12 km east on the coast, at Script error: No such module "Coordinates".) and Nyao Kono (about 12 km due south, at Script error: No such module "Coordinates".) have closely related dialects which are named after their villages (Musu and Nyao). These three speech varieties are very closely related and are easily mutually intelligible.
Phonology
Wutung has fifteen consonants and seven vowels, six of which have nasal variants. This gives a total of 28 phonemes. Wutung also makes suprasegmental distinctions in tone.
Consonants
Wutung is one of the very few languages that lack velar consonants.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive or Affricate |
voicelessScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". |
| voicedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | ||
| Nasal | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | ||
| Fricative | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | ||
| Approximant | Script error: No such module "IPA". | Script error: No such module "IPA". | |||
Vowels
Wutung has thirteen vowels, which includes seven oral and six nasal vowels. The table below shows the oral vowels. Each of these vowels, apart from the close-mid vowel ur /ɵ/, has an equivalent nasal vowel. The nasal vowels are indicated using the same symbol as the equivalent oral, but with a following ng, e.g. ca, 'pig' vs. cang 'blossom', the latter having the nasal vowel.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i Script error: No such module "IPA". |
u Script error: No such module "IPA". | |
| Mid | ey Script error: No such module "IPA". |
ur Script error: No such module "IPA". |
o Script error: No such module "IPA". |
| Open | e Script error: No such module "IPA". |
a Script error: No such module "IPA". |
Pronouns
Wutung has a simple system of personal pronouns with three persons (1st, 2nd and 3rd), two numbers (singular and plural) and gender in the third person singular pronouns. The same set of pronouns are used for object and subject.
I nie we netu thou me you etu he qey they tetu she cey
External links
- Paradisec has an open access collection of Don Laycock’s materials that includes Zimakani language materials
References
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Template:Skou languages Template:Languages of Papua New Guinea