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Iwal (also called Kaiwa from Jabem Kai Iwac 'Iwac highlanders') is an Austronesian language spoken by about 2,000 people in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.
[edit] Phonology
Iwal distinguishes 5 vowels and 16 consonants. Unlike most of its neighboring languages, it distinguishes the lateral /l/ from the trill /r/, the latter derived from earlier *s, as in aru from Proto-Oceanic (POc) *qasu 'smoke', ruru- from POc *susu 'breast', and ur from POc *qusan 'rain'.
[edit] Vowels (orthographic)
[edit] Consonants (orthographic)
[edit] References
- Bradshaw, Joel (2001). "Iwal grammar essentials, with comparative notes." In Andrew Pawley, Malcolm Ross, Darrell Tryon, eds., The boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton, 51-74. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
- Anon. (2004). Organised Phonology Data: Iwal (Kaiwa) language. Summer Institute of Linguistics. [1]