| Mussau-Emira | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Islands of Mussau and Emirau (New Ireland Province) |
Native speakers | 5,000 (2003) [1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | emi |
| Glottolog | muss1246 |
| ELP | Mussau-Emira |
 Mussau is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
The Mussau-Emira language is spoken on the islands of Mussau and Emirau in the St Matthias Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago.
Mussau-Emira distinguishes the following consonants.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ |
| Plosive | p | t | k |
| Fricative | β | s | ɣ |
| Liquid | l ɾ |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Low | a |
In most words the primary stress falls on the penultimate vowel and secondary stresses fall on every second syllable preceding that. This is true of suffixed forms as well, as in níma 'hand', nimá-gi 'my hand'; níu 'coconut', niúna 'its coconut'.
| Person | Singular | Plural | Dual | Trial | Paucal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person inclusive | ita | italua | itatolu | itaata | |
| 1st person exclusive | agi | ami | aŋalua | aŋatolu | aŋaata |
| 2nd person | io | am | amalua | amatolu | amaata |
| 3rd person | ia | ila | ilalua | ilotolu | ilaata |
Prefixes mark the subjects of each verb:
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