Kaulong language

Kaulong
Pasismanua
Region	parts of West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea
Native speakers	4,000 (2000)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic North New Guinea Ngero–Vitiaz Southwest New Britain Arawe–Pasismanua Pasismanua Kaulong
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pss
Glottolog	kaul1240

Kaulong, or Pasismanua, is an Austronesian language spoken by about 4000 swidden farmers of the southwest hinterlands of Kandrian District, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea on the island of New Britain.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Dorsal
Plosive	p	t	k
Prenasalized	ᵐb ⟨b⟩,⟨mb⟩	ⁿd ⟨d⟩,⟨nd⟩	ᵑɡ ⟨g⟩,⟨ngg⟩
Fricative	β ⟨w⟩	s	h
Nasal	m	n	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Approximant		r, l

• The prenasalised stops /ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ/ are oral [b d g] word-initially.
• /β/ has the allophone /w/ when preceding back vowels.
• /t/ often appears as a tap [ɾ] when between vowels in rapid speech.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Low		a aː

Additionally, Kaulong has the following diphthongs: /ei/, /ai/, /oi/, /ae/, /au/, /io/, /iu/, /ua/, /ue/, /ui/, /uo/.