Fayu language

Fayu
Fayu
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Papua
Ethnicity	Fayu
Native speakers	1,400 (2012)
Language family	Lakes Plain Tariku Fayu; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	fau
Glottolog	fayu1238
ELP	Fayu
	Fayu is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Last updated November 26, 2025

Fayu, also known as Sehudate, is a Lakes Plain language of Papua Province, Indonesia spoken by about 1,400 Fayu people.^[2] It is spoken in Foida and other nearby villages.^[3]

Phonology

Fayu has a relatively minimal phonological index, typical of Lakes Plain languages. It has an extensive system of allomorphy.^[4]

Vowels
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ		o
Open		a

Consonants
	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	b	t d			k
Fricative	ɸ	s				h
Affricate			d͡ʑ
Flap		h͡ɾ
Approximant	w			j

References

↑ Fayu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
↑ Fayu at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
↑ Clouse, Duane A. (1997). "Towards a reconstruction and reclassification of the Lakes Plain languages of Irian Jaya". In Karl Franklin (ed.). Papers in Papuan linguistics no. 2 (PDF). Vol. A-85. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 133–236. ISBN 0858834421.
↑ Maitland, Page A. O. 2020. A grammatical description of Fayu: a Western Lakes Plain language of West Papua. Honours thesis. The University of Newcastle, Australia.

This Indoneisan language-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This Papuan languages–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[e18-1] Fayu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Fayu at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)

[Clouse-LakesPlain-3] Clouse, Duane A. (1997). "Towards a reconstruction and reclassification of the Lakes Plain languages of Irian Jaya". In Karl Franklin (ed.). Papers in Papuan linguistics no. 2 (PDF). Vol. A-85. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 133–236. ISBN 0858834421.

[4] Maitland, Page A. O. 2020. A grammatical description of Fayu: a Western Lakes Plain language of West Papua. Honours thesis. The University of Newcastle, Australia.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]