Akoye language

Akoye
Lohiki
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Morobe Province
Native speakers	(600 cited 2001) [1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Angan Southwest Akoye–Tainae Akoye
Language codes
ISO 639-3	miw
Glottolog	akoy1238
ELP	Akoye

Akoye, also known as Lohiki or Maihiri (Mai-Hea-Ri), is an Angan language of Papua New Guinea.

Phonology

Akoye has a small phonemic inventory, which is not well described. ^[2]

Consonants are /ptk,fs,mn,w/ and maybe /j/. ^[3] The first four are usually voiced to [bɾɡv] after a monophthongal vowel, though sometimes the voicing is blocked for unknown reasons.

Consonants ^[2]

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p	t	k
Fricative	f	s
Approximant	w

Vowels are /ieəɑou/. Diphthongs (/ɑi,əi,oi,ɑu/) are said to be rare, though vowel sequences are common, so these are perhaps not equivalent. ^[4]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open			ɑ

The most complex syllable is CCVV: /mtəəpə/ 'hair', /əəkwɑi/ 'eye'.

Tone plays a role: /ə̀ɡənə/ 'sky', /əɡə́nə/ 'lid'; /pɑɑ́/ (sp. bird), /pɑ̀ɑ/ 'body'.

References

1. Akoye at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. "Organised Phonology Data" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
3. /j/ is not given in the invertory, but is illustrated in the examples.
4. Perhaps /aj/ vs. /ai/?

• OLAC resources in and about the Akoye language

Further reading

• Whitney, Henry; Whitney, Virginia (2000). Akoye Phonology Essentials (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
• Whitney, Henry (1999). Akoye Non-final Clauses (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-23. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
• Whitney, Henry (1992). Organised Phonology Data (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-02-21.