Maisin language

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Maisin
Region Oro Province, Papua New Guinea
Ethnicity Maisin people
Native speakers
2,600  (2000 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mbq

Maisin (or Maisan) is a language of Papua New Guinea with both Austronesian and Papuan features. The Austronesian elements are those of the Nuclear Papuan Tip languages. The Papuan element is Binanderean or Dagan. It is spoken by the Maisin people of Oro Province.

Phonology

Vowels

Monophthongs

Front Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

Diphthongs

Ending with /i/ Ending with /e/ Ending with /a/ Ending with /o/ Ending with /u/
Starting with /i/ /ii/ /ia/
Starting with /e/ /ei/ /ee/ /eu/
Starting with /a/ /ai/ /aa/ /au/
Starting with /o/ /oi/ /oo/ /ou/
Starting with /u/ /ua/ /uu/

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
Stop Voiceless p t k (kʷ)
Voiced b d ɡ
Nasal m n (ŋ)
Fricative Voiceless ɸ ɸʷ s
Voiced β ʝ
Flap ɾ
Approximant j w

[ŋ] and [kʷ] are not phonemic, but are distinguished in the orthography.

Phonotactics

Syllables can begin and end with up to one consonant each. I.e., English wrong /rɔŋ/ would be an acceptable word, but strength /streŋθ/ would not. Words can only end in either a vowel or [ŋ]. The vowels /u/ and /o/ never occur word-initially. /β/ never occurs before /o/ or /u/.

Writing system

A a B b D d E e F f Fw fw G g I i J j K k M m
/a/ /b/ /d/ /e/ /ɸ/ /ɸʷ/ /ɡ/ /i/ /ʝ/ /k/ /m/
N n O o R r S s T t U u V v W w Y y Kw kw Ŋ ŋ
[n] /o/ /ɾ/ /s/ /t/ /u/ /β/ /w/ /j/ [kʷ] [ŋ]

Literacy varies from 20% to 80% in different areas.

See also

References

  1. Maisin reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  • Ray, Sidney H. (Jul–Dec 1911). "Comparative notes on Maisin and other languages of eastern Papua". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 41: 397–405. doi:10.2307/2843181. JSTOR 2843181. 
  • Ross, Malcolm (1984). Maisin: a preliminary sketch. Pacific Linguistics. 
  • Strong, W. M. (Jul–Dec 1911). "The Maisin Language". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 41: 381–396. doi:10.2307/2843180. JSTOR 2843180. 

External links

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