Boiken language
{{Short description|Ndu language of Papua New Guinea}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Boiken
|states=Papua New Guinea
|region=Sepik River basin
|speakers={{sigfig|35,000|2}}
|date=2004
|ref=e25
|familycolor=Papuan
|fam1=Sepik
|fam2=Middle Sepik
|fam3=Ndu
|iso3=bzf
|glotto=boik1241
|glottorefname=Boikin
}}
Boiken (Nucum, Yangoru) is one of the more populous of the Ndu languages of Sepik River region of northern Papua New Guinea. It is spoken around Boiken Creek in Yangoru-Saussia District, East Sepik Province and adjacent islands off the north coast of northern Papua New Guinea.
Phonology
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" | ! Labial ! Dental ! Alveolar ! Dorsal |
| colspan="2" | Nasal
| {{IPA link|m}} | {{IPA link|n̪}} | {{IPA link|n}} | ({{IPA link|ŋ}}) | |
|---|
| colspan="2" | Stop
| {{IPA link|p}} | | {{IPA link|t}} | {{IPA link|k}} | ({{IPA link|ʔ}}) |
| colspan="2" |Affricate
| | {{IPA link|t̪s̪}} | | | |
| rowspan="2" | Fricative
!voiceless | {{IPA link|ɸ}} | | {{IPA link|s}} | {{IPA link|x}} | |
| voiced
| | | |{{IPA link|ɣ}} | |
| colspan="2" | Approximant
| {{IPA link|w}} | {{IPA link|l̪}} | | {{IPA link|j}} | |
| colspan="2" | Trill
| | | {{IPA link|r}} | | |
| colspan="2" | Flap
| | | {{IPA link|ɺ}} | | |
- Stop sounds /p, t̪s̪, t, k/ are heard as voiced [b, d̪z̪, d, ɡ] when following a nasal counterpart.
- /k/ has an allophone of a glottal [ʔ] in word-final position, or when preceding a consonant in word-medial position.
- Sounds /ɸ, s, x/ can be voiced as [β, z, ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
- /n/ is heard as [ŋ] when preceding velar consonants, or freely in word-final position.
- /r/ can be heard as a voiceless trill [r̥] in word-initial positions.
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! !Back |
| Close
| align="center" |{{IPA link|i}} |{{IPA link|ɨ}} |{{IPA link|u}} |
|---|
| Mid
|{{IPA link|e}} |{{IPA link|ə}} |{{IPA link|o}} |
| Open
|{{IPA link|æ}} |{{IPA link|a}} |{{IPA link|ɒ}} |
- /ɨ, ə/ have allophones of [ɪ, ɛ] when following dental and alveolar sounds.
- /u/ has an allophone of [ʊ] when preceding /k/ heard as a glottal [ʔ] in word-medial and word-final positions.
- /o/ has an allophone of [ɔ] when following labial and velar sounds.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Paradisec houses two collections of Arthur Capell's materials that include Boiken ([http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/AC1 AC1] and [http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/AC2 AC2]) as well as notes from Don Laycock's work ([http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/DL2 DL2]) all of these collections are open access.
{{Sepik languages}}
{{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}
Category:Languages of East Sepik Province
{{papuan-lang-stub}}