Kaulong language

Kaulong
Pasismanua
Region	parts of West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea
Native speakers	(4,000 cited 2000) [1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic North New Guinea Ngero–Vitiaz Southwest New Britain Arawe–Pasismanua Pasismanua Kaulong
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pss
Glottolog	kaul1240

Kaulong, also known as Pasismanua, is an Austronesian language spoken by about 4,000 swidden farmers of the southwest hinterlands of Kandrian District, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea on the island of New Britain.

Phonology

Consonants ^[2]

	Labial	Alveolar	Dorsal
Plosive	p	t	k
Prenasalized	ᵐb ⟨b⟩,⟨mb⟩	ⁿd ⟨d⟩,⟨nd⟩	ᵑɡ ⟨g⟩,⟨ngg⟩
Fricative	β ⟨w⟩	s	h
Nasal	m	n	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Approximant		r , l

• The prenasalised stops /ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ/ are oral [b d g] word-initially.
• /β/ has the allophone /w/ when preceding back vowels.
• /t/ often appears as a tap [ɾ] when between vowels in rapid speech.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Low		a aː

Additionally, Kaulong has the following diphthongs: /ei/, /ai/, /oi/, /ae/, /au/, /io/, /iu/, /ua/, /ue/, /ui/, /uo/.

References

1. Kaulong at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Throop, Craig (1992). Kaulong Organised Phonology Data. SIL International.

Further reading

• Jane C. Goodale (2015). To Sing with Pigs Is Human: The Concept of Person in Papua New Guinea. University of Washington Press. ISBN   978-0-295-80159-9.