Fuyug language
Fuyug (Fuyuge, Fuyughe, Mafulu) is a language of Papua New Guinea spoken in the Central Province of the country. The language's 14,000 speakers live in 300 villages in the Goilala District.[2] PhonologyThe usual orthographic convention used to transcribe Fuyug is to use a for /ɑ/, e for /ɛ/, y for /j/, and the corresponding IPA characters for the remaining phonemes. VowelsFuyug possesses five vowel phonemes.[3]
The vowel /ɛ/ is pronounced as the diphthong [ɛi̯] when word-final as well as before a word-final consonant. For example, ateg ("truth") is pronounced [ɑˈtɛi̯ɡ] and ode ("where") as [oˈdɛi̯].[4] All vowels are nasalised before a nasal consonant, as in in ("pandanus") [ˈĩn], ung ("nose") [ˈũŋɡ], em ("house") [ˈẽĩ̯m].[5] ConsonantsFuyug has 14 consonant phonemes.[6]
The voiceless plosive are aspirated in a word-final position and before /i/: endanti ("outside") [ɛ̃nˈdɑ̃ntʰi], oki ("fire") [ˈokʰi], eyak ("return") [ɛˈjɑkʰ].[6] The nasal phoneme /n/ assimilates before a velar consonant becoming [ŋ] : yangos ("rain") [jɑ̃ŋˈɡos].[7] The pronunciation of the liquid /l/ is in free variation between a lateral [l] and a flap [ɾ]. However, with the exception of words of foreign origin where the word in the source language is written with an r, this is represented in the orthography as l.[4] SyllablesFuyug syllables come in the shape (C)V(C)(C). There cannot be more than two consonants adjacent to one another word-internally and the only final clusters permitted are mb, nd and ng. Within a word vowels may not follow one another.[8] StressStress in Fuyug is predictable. Stress falls on the final syllable in mono- and disyllabic words and on the antepenult in words of three of four syllables. Affixes do not alter the stressed syllable.[9] MorphophonologyCertain suffixes (notably the illative -ti) cause a change in the end of the word to which it is attached:[10]
GrammarPersonal pronounsFuyug has personal pronouns for three numbers (singular, dual, plural) but not gender distinction.
These pronouns can take four different suffixes: the genitive -l or -le, the emphatic -ni, the comitative -noy and the contrastive -v.[11] NumeralsNumerals in Fuyug are very restricted, having only fidan ("one") and yovalo ("two"). The numbers 3, 4 and 5 are composed of 1 and 2:
After five English numerals are used (numbers less than five often do so as well). The quantifier huka ("a lot") is also used after three.[12] References
Bibliography
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