Timbe language

For the language of Brazil, see Timbé language.

Timbe
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Huon Peninsula, Morobe Province
Native speakers	(11,000 cited 1991) [1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Finisterre–Huon Huon Western Huon Timbe
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tim
Glottolog	timb1251

Timbe is a Papuan language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Women and older men are monolingual.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t̪		k
	voiced	b	d̪		ɡ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿ̪d̪		ᵑɡ
Nasal		m	n̪		ŋ
Fricative			s			h
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

• /b, d̪, ɡ/ can be lenited as [β, ɾ~r, ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
• /t̪, d̪/ are heard as [tʃ, dʒ] when following /ŋ/. ^[2]

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	e	o
Low	a	ɔ

References

1. Timbe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Foster, Margaret & Mick (1972). Timbe phonemics. SIL.

External links

• Timbe Grammar Sketch