Mussau-Emira language
{{Short description|Austronesian language of northeast Papua New Guinea}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Mussau-Emira
|states=Papua New Guinea
|region=Islands of Mussau and Emirau (New Ireland Province)
|speakers=5,000
|date=2003
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Austronesian
|fam2=Malayo-Polynesian
|fam3=Oceanic
|fam4=St. Matthias
|map2=Lang Status 60-DE.svg
|mapcaption2={{center|{{small|Mussau is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}
|iso3=emi
|glotto=muss1246
|glottorefname=Mussau-Emira
|notice=IPA
}}
The Mussau-Emira language is spoken on the islands of Mussau and Emirau in the St Matthias Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago.
Phonology
=Phonemes=
==Consonants==
Mussau-Emira distinguishes the following consonants.
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! |
| Nasal
|{{IPA link|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} |{{IPA link|ŋ}} |
|---|
| Plosive
|{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} |{{IPA link|k}} |
| Fricative
|{{IPA link|β}} |{{IPA link|s}} |{{IPA link|ɣ}} |
| Liquid
| |{{IPA link|l}} {{IPA link|ɾ}} | |
- Fricative sounds {{IPA|/β, ɣ/}} may also be heard as voiced stop sounds {{IPA|[b, ɡ]}} in word-initial position and when geminated.
==Vowels==
=Stress=
In most words the primary stress falls on the penultimate vowel and secondary stresses fall on every second syllable preceding that. This is true of suffixed forms as well, as in níma 'hand', nimá-gi 'my hand'; níu 'coconut', niúna 'its coconut'.
Morphology
=Pronouns and person markers=
==Free pronouns==
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Person ! Singular ! Plural ! Dual ! Trial ! Paucal |
| 1st person inclusive
| | ita | italua | itatolu | itaata |
|---|
| 1st person exclusive
| agi | ami | aŋalua | aŋatolu | aŋaata |
| 2nd person
| io | am | amalua | amatolu | amaata |
| 3rd person
| ia | ila | ilalua | ilotolu | ilaata |
==Subject prefixes==
Prefixes mark the subjects of each verb:
- (agi) a-namanama 'I'm eating'
- (io) u-namanama 'you're (sing.) eating'
- (ia) e-namanama 'he's/she's eating'
Sample vocabulary
=Numbers=
- kateva
- galua
- kotolu
- gaata
- galima
- gaonomo
- gaitu
- gaoalu
- kasio
- kasaŋaulu
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Blust, Robert (1984). "A Mussau vocabulary, with phonological notes." In Malcolm Ross, Jeff Siegel, Robert Blust, Michael A. Colburn, W. Seiler, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics, No. 23, 159-208. Series A-69. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. {{doi|10.15144/PL-A69}} {{hdl|1885/145028}}
- Ross, Malcolm (1988). Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian languages of western Melanesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. {{doi|10.15144/PL-C98}} {{hdl|1885/145428}}
- Mussau Grammar Essentials by John and Marjo Brownie (Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, volume 52). 2007. Ukarumpa: SIL.[https://pnglanguages.sil.org/resources/archives/23621]
External links
- Kaipuleohone has archived a word list of Mussau language
- Materials on Mussau-Emira are included in the open access Arthur Capell ([http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/AC1 AC1]) and Malcolm Ross ([http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/search?language_code=emi MR1]) collections held by Paradisec.
{{Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages}}
{{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mussau-Emira Language}}
Category:St Matthias languages