Wogamusin language

Wogamusin
Spoken in Ambunti District, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Native speakers 700  (1998)
Language family
Language codes
ISO 639-3 wog
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Wogamusin is a Papuan language spoken by about 700 people (as of 1998) in four villages in the Ambunti District of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.[1]

Contents

Phonology

Vowels[2]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open a

In non-final positions, /u/ /o/, /i/, and /e/ are [ʊ] [ɔ], [ɪ], and [ɛ], respectively. [ə] appears only in unstressed syllables; when it is followed by /w/ it is rounded: [ɵu̯].[2]

Consonants[2]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive Voiceless p t k
Voiced b d ɡ
Voiced prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
Fricative s h
Flap ɺ
Approximant j w

Between vowels, /b/ and /ɡ/ lenite to the fricatives [β] and [ɣ], respectively. /s/ is realized as an affricate, [ts], word-initially. /h/ is velar, [x], after /a/ and /o/. Word-finally, voiceless stops are usually unreleased.[2]

Phonotactics

The consonant /ŋ/ only occurs finally. Bilabial and velar consonants may be followed by /w/ when initial, but otherwise consonant clusters only occur over syllable boundaries, with the exception of the unusual word /məmt/ ('snake').[3]

Notes

  1. ^ Ethnologue.
  2. ^ a b c d Laycock (1965:114)
  3. ^ Laycock (1965:114)

References