Kakabai language

Kakabai
Igora
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Milne Bay Province, tip of Cape Vogel
Native speakers	900 (2003) [1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic Papuan Tip Nuclear Papuan Tip North Papuan Mainland – D'Entrecasteaux Kakabai–Dawawa Kakabai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kqf
Glottolog	kaka1267

Kakabai is an Austronesian language spoken in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.

Phonology

Consonants ^[2]

		Labial		Alveolar	Velar
		plain	labial		plain	labial
Plosive	Voiceless	p	pʷ ⟨pw⟩	t	k	kʷ ⟨kw⟩
	Voiced	b	bʷ ⟨bw⟩	d	g	gʷ ⟨gw⟩
Fricative		f v		s	ɣ ⟨ḡ⟩
Nasal		m	mʷ ⟨mw⟩	n
Approximant				l	j ⟨y⟩	w

• The labialized consonants /pʷ bʷ mʷ kʷ gʷ/ only appear before /a/.
• /l/ varies dialectally between [ɺ~ɾ~l].
• /ɣ/ is realized as [ʝ~h] before front vowels.
• /m/ can appear syllabically.

Vowels ^[2]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Stress is usually found on the penultimate syllable. ^[2]

References

1. Kakabai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Svensson, Erik (2006). Kakabai Organised Phonology Data. SIL International.

External links

• Alphabet and pronunciation