Mapos Buang language

Mapos
Mapos
Central Buang
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Morobe Province
Native speakers	10,500 (2000); 30% monolingual (2000?)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic North New Guinea ? Ngero–Vitiaz ? Huon Gulf South Huon Gulf Hote–Buang Buang Mapos; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bzh
Glottolog	mapo1242

Mapos Buang, also known as Mapos or Central Buang, is an Oceanic language in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.

Phonology[]

Mapos Buang has a larger sound inventory than is typical of most Austronesian languages.^{[citation needed]} Notable is the existence of a phonemic contrast between a velar nasal and a uvular nasal, which is extremely rare among the world's languages. Along with this, its phonology is unusually symmetrical compared to most other languages.

Vowels[]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i(ː)		u(ː)
Mid	e(ː)	(ə)*	o(ː)
Low	ɛ(ː)	a(ː)	ɔ(ː)

* [ə] is a prominent feature of Buang phonology, but is not contrastive.

Consonants[]

	Bilabial	Coronal	Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Labio- velar	Uvular
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ŋʷ	ɴ
(prenasalized) Occlusive	ᵐb	ⁿd	ⁿdʒ	ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ	ᶰɢ
(prenasalized) Occlusive	p	t	tʃ	k	kʷ	q
Continuant	β	l̪	j	ɣ	w*	ʁ
Liquid		l~ɽ

*/w/ is a bilabial approximant or semivowel with no co-articulated velar component. It is placed in the labio-velar series of the chart as it fills a gap in this position. /β/ is a voiced bilabial fricative.

References[]

^ Mapos at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
^ Mapos Buang language at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)

External links[]

Mapos Buang dictionary (with phonology and grammar)

This article about North New Guinea languages is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[e18-1] Mapos at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

[e15-2] Mapos Buang language at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)

[1]

[2]