Mubami language

Mubami
Tao
RegionPapua New Guinea
Native speakers
1,700 (2002)[1]
Trans–New Guinea
Language codes
ISO 639-3tsx
Glottologmuba1238

Mubami is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. It goes by the names Dausame, Tao-Suamato, Tao-Suame, and Ta. The language is used in all age groups and domains of life, including education,[1] and is therefore counted as not presently endangered.[2]

It is spoken in Diwami, Kubeai, Parieme, Paueme, Sogae, Ugu, and Waliho villages on the Guavi and Aramia rivers in Western Province, Papua New Guinea.[1]

A word list of Mubami can be found in Z'graggen (1975)[3]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n (ɲ)
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative voiceless (f) s h
voiced v ɣ
Rhotic ɾ
Approximant w j
  • [f] is mainly heard as a variant of /p/.
  • [ɲ] is heard in the sequence /nj/.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a
  • /e, o/ can also have realizations of [ɛ, ɔ].[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Mubami at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Harald Hammarström, 2010: The status of the least documented language families in the world.
  3. ^ Z'graggen, John A. 1975. Comparative wordlists of the Gulf District and adjacent Areas. In: Richard Loving (ed.), Comparative Wordlists I. 5–116. Ukarumpa: SIL-PNG. (Rearranged version of Franklin ed. 1973: 541–592) with typographical errors.)
  4. ^ Reesink, Ger P. (1976). Languages of the Aramia River Area. In Papers in New Guinea Linguistics 19: Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 1–37.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)


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