Sinaugoro language

Last updated
Sinaugoro
Native to Papua New Guinea
Region Central Province
Native speakers
18,000 (2000 census) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 snc
Glottolog sina1266

Sinaugoro is an Austronesian language of Papua New Guinea. It is mainly spoken in the Rigo District of Central Province by some 15,000 people. [2] The language is closely related to Motu.

Contents

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
plain lab.
Plosive voicelesstk
voicedbdɡɡʷ
Fricative voicelessfs
voicedv(ʝ)ɣɣʷ
Nasal mn
Rhotic r
Approximant l(j)

Vowels

Front Central Back
High iu
Mid eo
Low a

Writing system

Sinaugoro alphabet [4]
abdefgḡwikkwlmnorstuv

Grammar

Sinaugoro is an agglutinative language with ergative alignment and subject–object–verb (SOV) word order. [5] Number is marked explicitly on the verb and freely within the noun phrase, but is not marked on the noun itself. A morphological distinction is made in Sinaugoro between the possession of alienable and inalienable nouns, and then between the alienable possession of edible and inedible objects. [6]

Verbal indexing of person and number in Sinaugoro makes freestanding personal pronouns optional. These are given below, displaying a distinction between inclusive and exclusive.

Personal pronouns in Sinaugoro [7]
singularplural
1st personexclusiveaugai
inclusivegita
2nd persongoigomi
3rd persongiagia

Notes

  1. Sinaugoro at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Tauberschmidt (1999) , p. 1
  3. 1 2 Tauberschmidt 1999, pp. 6–9.
  4. SIL 1992.
  5. Tauberschmidt (1999) , p. 2
  6. Tauberschmidt (1999) , p. 14
  7. Tauberschmidt (1999) , p. 16-17

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References