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"

|+ Boiken consonants{{Cite book |last=Freudenburg |first=Allen & Marlene |title=Boiken phonemes |publisher=Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics |year=1974 |location=In Richard Loving (ed.), Phonologies of four Papua New Guinea languages |pages=97-127}}

! colspan="2" |

! Labial

! Dental

! Alveolar

! Dorsal

!Glottal

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"

|+Boiken vowels

!

!Front

!Central

!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}}