Fuyug language

Last updated
Fuyug
Region Papua New Guinea
Native speakers
14,000 (2003) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 fuy
Glottolog fuyu1242

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]

Contents

Phonology

The 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.

Vowels

Fuyug possesses five vowel phonemes. [3]

Front Back
Close iu
Mid ɛo
Open ɑ

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]

Consonants

Fuyug has 14 consonant phonemes. [6]

Labial Coronal Velar
Plosive Voiceless ptk
Voiced bdɡ
Fricative Voicelessfs
Voicedv
Nasal mn
Approximant wj
Liquid l

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]

Syllables

Fuyug 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]

Stress

Stress 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]

Morphophonology

Certain suffixes (notably the illative -ti) cause a change in the end of the word to which it is attached: [10]

Grammar

Personal pronouns

Fuyug has personal pronouns for three numbers (singular, dual, plural) but not gender distinction.

PersonSingularDualPlural
1stnadadi
2ndnuyayi
3rdhutumu

These pronouns can take four different suffixes: the genitive -l or -le, the emphatic -ni, the comitative -noy and the contrastive -v. [11]

Numerals

Numerals 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]

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References

  1. Fuyug at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Bradshaw 2007 , p. 2
  3. Bradshaw 2007 , p. 14
  4. 1 2 Bradshaw 2007 , p. 17
  5. Bradshaw 2007 , p. 18
  6. 1 2 Bradshaw 2007 , p. 15
  7. Bradshaw 2007 , p. 16
  8. Bradshaw 2007 , pp. 21–24
  9. Bradshaw 2007 , p. 24
  10. Bradshaw 2007 , pp. 24–27
  11. Bradshaw 2007 , pp. 39–41
  12. Bradshaw 2007 , p. 45

Bibliography