Abau language

Last updated
Abau
Native to Papua New Guinea
Region Sandaun Province
Native speakers
7,500 (2008 census) [1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 aau
Glottolog abau1245
ELP Abau

Abau is a Papuan language spoken in southern Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea, primarily along the border with Indonesia.

Contents

In 2002, there were estimated to be between 4,500 and 5,000 speakers, and this number does not appear to have declined since the first accurate count in the 1970s.

Abau is reported to have whistled speech.

Phonology

Abau has the simplest phonemic inventory in the Sepik language family. [2]

Vowels [2]
Front Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open ɑ
Consonants [2]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive p k
Fricative s h
Flap ɾ
Semivowel j w

Pronouns

Pronouns are: [3]

sgdupl
1ha ~ hanhrorhrom
2hwon ~ hunhohhom
3mhiy ~ hi
3fhok

The dual and plural numbers only distinguish between first person and non-first person. Also, the third-person gender distinction exists only for the singular, but not the dual or plural forms.

Noun classes

Abau noun classes are: [3]

Abau noun classes
classformal markersemantics
class 1pruhuman, spirits
class 2k(a)-animals and default
class 3nasmall objects with some volume
class 4s(i)-flat surface objects
class 5pilong thin objects
class 6ugeographical locations
class 7iflat objects with little volume
class 8ricertain types of trees
class 9ein(d)-bundles of long uncut items
class 10reiktemporal
class 11hnawbundles of long cut items
class 12houk-part of a long object

Nouns can take on different class affixes depending on the physical characteristics being emphasized. Examples: [3]

su ‘coconut’
pey ‘sugarcane’

Like most other Sepik languages, Abau overtly marks grammatical gender (see Sepik languages#Gender ). The same object can be classified as either masculine or feminine, depending on the physical characteristics intended for emphasis. Example: [3]

youk ‘paddle’

Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words are from Foley (2005) [4] and Laycock (1968), [5] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database: [6]

glossAbau
headmakwe
earnwek
eyenane; nanɛ
nosekasan
toothnas
tonguesane; sanɛ
legsune; sunɛ
lousemapru
dognwɔf; nwɔhɔ
pigfwok
birdahnɛ
eggne
bloodnyoh
boneayo; i
skinohi
breastmu
treeno; nɔw
manlu; or; ur
womansa
sune; ey
moonyen; yeny
waterfu; hu
fireya
stoneməny
nameuru
eatra
onemun; rin
twopris

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References

  1. Abau at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 3 Steven Moran and Daniel McCloy and Richard Wright. 2019. Abau sound inventory (PH). In: Moran, Steven & McCloy, Daniel (eds.) PHOIBLE 2.0. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. (Available online at http://phoible.org/inventories/view/1160, Accessed on 2019-04-23.)
  3. 1 2 3 4 Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN   978-3-11-028642-7.
  4. Foley, W.A. "Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik-Ramu basin". In Pawley, A., Attenborough, R., Golson, J. and Hide, R. editors, Papuan Pasts: Cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. PL-572:109-144. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2005.
  5. Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics , 7 (1): 36-66.
  6. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea" . Retrieved 2020-11-05.