Mwakai language
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2020) |
| Mongol | |
|---|---|
| Mwakai | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | East Sepik Province |
Native speakers | 340 (2003)[1] |
Ramu–Keram
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mgt |
| Glottolog | mong1344 |
| ELP | Mongol-Kaimba |
| Coordinates: 4°15′44″S 143°55′03″E / 4.262293°S 143.917638°E | |
Mongol, also known as Mwakai, is a Keram language of Papua New Guinea. Despite the name, it is not related to Mongolian, which is spoken in East Asia.
It is spoken in Mongol village (4°15′44″S 143°55′03″E / 4.262293°S 143.917638°E), Keram Rural LLG, East Sepik Province.[2][3]
Phonology
[edit]Mwakai has 12 consonants and six vowels, shown in the tables below. This section follows Barlow (2020).[4]
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obstruent | voiceless | /p/ | /s/ | /k/ | |
| voiced | /ᵐb/ | /ⁿd/ | /ⁿd͡ʒ/ | /ᵑɡ/ | |
| Nasal | voiced | /m/ | /n/ | ||
| Sonorant | voiced | /w/ | /r/ | /j/ |
The sound [t] only occurs in borrowings, with earlier */t/ having historically become /r/; this is belied by the realisation of word-final /r/ as [t~r~l]. /s/ patterns as a palatal consonant, with the optional allophone [ʃ]; there is some interplay between the sounds /s/ and /ⁿd͡ʒ/ in casual speech, with the contrast sometimes being neutralised in favour or either realisation. [ɲ] is a marginal phone which appears in borrowings and occasional as a realisation of /n/ before /i/. /r/ varies between [r ~ ɾ ~ l] and /p/ is occasionally realised as [ɸ].
/w/ and /j/ have a limited distribution, appearing mostly word-initially or -finally, and only rarely intervocalically. Some instances of /j/ and most instances of /w/ may be merely epenthetic, suggesting that Mwakai is in the process of losing its glide phonemes.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | /i/ | /u/ | |
| Mid | /e/ | /ə/ | /o/ |
| Open | /a/ |
/i u e/ are rarely realised as their cardinal qualities and may approach [ɨ~ɪ ɨ~ʊ ɛ~ə] especially when unstressed.
References
[edit]- ^ Mongol at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
- ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
- ^ Barlow, Russel (2020). "Notes on Mwakai, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea". Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea. 38.
Further reading
[edit]- Barlow, Russell (2020). Notes on Mwakai, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 38: 37-99. ISSN 0023-1959