Orokaiva language

Orokaiva
Orokaivic
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionOro Province
EthnicityOrokaiva
Native speakers
(47,000 cited 2000 census – 2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
okv – Orokaiva
hkk – Hunjara
aez – Aeka
Glottologorok1268
IETFokv[2]

Orokaiva is a Papuan language spoken in the "tail" of Papua New Guinea.

Varieties

Orokaiva is spoken in 200 villages around Popondetta in Oro Province.

Hunjara is spoken in Kokoda Rural LLG of Oro Province.

Aeka is spoken in Tamata Rural LLG of Oro Province.[1]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
Affricate d͡z
Fricative s h
  • Voiced stops /b, d, ɡ/ may fluctuate to prenasalized stop sounds [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ] in word-initial position. The prenasalized stop sounds are also heard among the voiced stops when in post-nasal sequences.
  • /b/ can be heard as [β] in intervocalic positions, and may also be heard as a voiced bilabial rounded fricative [β̹] when before /a/ in intervocalic positions..
  • /d/ may occur as flap sounds [ɾ, ɽ, ɺ] in free fluctuation in word-medial positions, except when after a nasal sound.
  • /d͡z/ may have fluctuating allophones of [d͡ʒ, ʒ] occurring in syllable-initial positions.
  • Word-final nasal sounds /-n, -ŋ/ when after a vowel, may result in vowel nasalization [Ṽ].

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a
  • Sounds [i, u, a] can have allophones [ɪ, ʊ, ʌ].

References

  1. ^ a b Orokaiva at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Hunjara at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Aeka at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Orokaiva". IANA language subtag registry. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  • Larsen, Robert E. & Marlys Larsen. 1977. Orokaiva phonology and orthography. In Richard Loving (ed.), Phonologies of five P.N.G. languages, 5-28. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

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