Sursurunga language
{{Short description|Oceanic language}}
{{use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Sursurunga
| region = New Ireland
| speakers = 3,000
| date = 1991
| ref = e18
| familycolor = Austronesian
| fam2 = Malayo-Polynesian
| fam3 = Oceanic
| fam4 = Western
| fam5 = Meso-Melanesian
| fam6 = (St George linkage)
| iso3 = sgz
| glotto = surs1246
| glottorefname = Sursurunga
}}
Sursurunga is an Oceanic language of New Ireland.
Phonology
=Consonants=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Consonants{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|p=168-172}} ! colspan=2| !! Bilabial !! Dental !! Alveolar !! Palatal !! Velar !! Glottal | |
| rowspan=2|Plosive | voiceless
| {{IPA link|p}} || {{IPA link|t̪}} || || || {{IPA link|k}} || |
|---|---|
| voiced
| {{IPA link|b}} || || {{IPA link|d}} || || {{IPA link|g}} || | |
| colspan=2|Fricative
| || || {{IPA link|s}} || || || {{IPA link|h}} | |
| colspan=2|Nasal
| {{IPA link|m}} || || {{IPA link|n}} || || {{IPA link|ŋ}} || | |
| colspan=2|Trill
| || || {{IPA link|r}} || || || | |
| colspan=2|Approximant
| {{IPA link|w}} || || {{IPA link|l}} || {{IPA link|j}} || || |
- {{IPAslink|p}} has two allophones: {{IPAblink|pʷ}} syllable initially and {{IPAblink|p̚}} syllable finally.{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|p=168}}
- {{IPAslink|t̪}} has two allophones: {{IPAblink|t̪}} syllable initially and {{IPAblink|t̪}}~{{IPAblink|t̪͆}} syllable finally.{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|p=169}}
- {{IPAslink|k}} has two allophones: {{IPAblink|k}} syllable initially and {{IPAblink|k}}~{{IPAblink|k̚}}~{{IPAblink|kʰ}} syllable finally.{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|p=169}}
- Voiced stops {{IPAslink|b}} {{IPAblink|bʷ}}, {{IPAslink|d}}, and {{IPAslink|g}} only occur syllable initially. Plain and prenasalized voiced stops (i.e., {{IPAblink|ᵐbʷ}}, {{IPAblink|ⁿd}}, {{IPAblink|ᵑg}}) are in free variation word initially. Voiced stops are nasalized word-medially between vowels and after non-nasal consonants. {{IPAblink|ɖ}}, a "voiced alveolar slightly retroflexed stop" is also heard word medially.{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|p=169-170}}
- {{IPAslink|s}} is {{IPAblink|s}} syllable initially and finally.{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|pp=170-171}}
- {{IPAslink|h}} is a "voiceless vocoid occurring word finally following a voiced vocoid of the same quality."{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|p=171}}
- {{IPAslink|m}} is {{IPAblink|mʷ}} syllable initially and {{IPAblink|m}} syllable finally. It becomes {{IPAblink|mʷ}} after a rounded vowel.{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|p=171}}
- {{IPAslink|l}} is {{IPAslink|lʲ}} initially and finally.{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|p=172}}
- Semivowels {{IPAslink|w}} and {{IPAslink|j}} only occur syllable initially.{{sfn|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|1975|p=172}}
=Vowels=
Orthography
Sursurunga has fifteen consonants{{emdash}}{{angbr|b d g h k l m n ng p r s t w y}}{{emdash}} and six vowels{{emdash}}{{angbr|a á e i o u}}.{{sfn|Samson|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|2018|p=11}}
{{angbr|ng}} is the velar nasal {{IPAslink|ŋ}} and {{angbr|á}} is the schwa.{{sfn|Samson|Hutchisson|Hutchisson|2018|p=11}}
Number
Sursurunga is famous for having a five-way grammatical number distinction. The numbers beside singular, dual, and plural have been called trial and quadral;{{cite book |last=Hutchisson |first=Don |year=1986 |chapter=Sursurunga Pronouns and the Special Uses of Quadral Number |editor-last=Wiesemann |editor-first=Ursula |title=Pronominal Systems |pages=1–20 |location=Tübingen |publisher=Gunter Narr}} however, these numbers, which only occur on pronouns, indicate a minimum of three and four, not exactly three and four the way the dual indicates exactly two.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |date=7 December 2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-64016-4 |chapter=Meaning Distinctions |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139164344.003}} They are equivalent to "a few" and "several", and Corbett has called them (lesser) paucal and greater paucal. The trial cannot be used for dyadic kinship terms, whereas the quadral is used for two or three such pair relationships.
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! !! {{gcl|SG}} !! {{gcl|DU}} !! {{gcl|TRI}} !! {{gcl|QUAD|quadral}} !! {{gcl|PL}} | ||||
| {{gcl|1}}.{{gcl|INCL}}
| {{lang|sgz|iau}} || {{lang|sgz|giur}} || {{lang|sgz|gimtul}} || {{lang|sgz|gimhat}} || {{lang|sgz|gim}} | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{gcl|1}}.{{gcl|EXCL}}
| {{emdash}} || {{lang|sgz|gitar}} || {{lang|sgz|gittul}} || {{lang|sgz|githat}} || {{lang|sgz|git}} | ||||
| {{gcl|2}}
| {{lang|sgz|iáu}} || {{lang|sgz|gaur}} || {{lang|sgz|gamtul}} || {{lang|sgz|gamhat}} || {{lang|sgz|gam}} | ||||
| {{gcl|3}}
| {{lang|sgz | ||||
| i/on/ái}} | {{lang|sgz|diar}} | {{lang|sgz|ditul}} | {{lang|sgz|dihat}} | {{lang|sgz|di}} |
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
- {{Cite book |last=Hutchisson |first=Don |title=Phonologies of five Austronesian languages |last2=Hutchisson |first2=Sharon |publisher=Summer Institute of Linguistics |year=1975 |editor-last=Loving |editor-first=Richard |location=Ukarumpa |pages=163–202 |chapter=A preliminary phonology of Sursurunga |chapter-url=https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/23663}}
- {{Cite report |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/publications/entry/7877 |title=An Acoustic Description of Central Vowels in Three Austronesian Languages of New Ireland |last=King |first=Phil |volume=2007-005 |year=2007 |series=SIL Electronic Working Papers}}
- {{Cite book |last=Samson |first=Benroi |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/79354 |title=Sálán má Worwor Talas uri tan Kuir Wor Sursurunga |last2=Hutchisson |first2=Sharon |last3=Hutchisson |first3=Don |publisher=Summer Institute of Linguistics |year=2018 |isbn=978-9980-0-4287-3 |location=Ukarumpa |trans-title=The meanings and explanations of Sursurunga words}}
{{Meso-Melanesian languages}}
{{Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages}}
{{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}
Category:Languages of New Ireland Province
{{MesoMelanesian-lang-stub}}