Abau language

Abau
Native to Papua New Guinea
Region Sandaun
Native speakers
 7,300 (2000 census)[1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 aau
Glottolog abau1245[2]

Abau is a Papuan language spoken in the Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea, primarily along the shores of the Sepik River.

In 2002, there were estimated to be between 4,500 and 5,000 speakers, and this number does not appear to have declined since the first accurate count in the 1970s.

Abau is reported to have whistled speech.

Phonology

Vowels[3]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

/ə/ appears only in medial positions.[3]

Consonants[3]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Stop p k
Fricative s h
Flap r
Approximant j w

/r/ has several allophones: word-initially, it is [l], after /n/ it is [d], [r] intervocalically, and [t] or [ɺ] word-finally. /h/ becomes [ç] before /i/ and [ɸ] before /u/. Stops are voiced when following nasal consonants.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Abau at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Abau". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Laycock (1965:116)

References

  • Laycock, D.C. (1965), "Three Upper Sepik phonologies", Oceanic Linguistics, 4 (1/2): 113–118, doi:10.2307/3622917, JSTOR 3622917
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