Iwam language

May River Iwam
Region East Sepik Province
Native speakers
3,000 (1998)[1]
Sepik
Language codes
ISO 639-3 iwm
Glottolog iwam1256[2]

May River Iwam, or just Iwam (cf. Sepik Iwam), is a language of Papua New Guinea.

Phonology

Vowels[3]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open a

In non-final positions, /u/ /o/, /i/, and /e/ are [ʊ] [ɔ], [ɪ], and [ɛ], respectively. /ə/ appears only in nonfinal syllables. When adjacent to nasal consonants, vowels are nasalized; nasalization may also occur when adjacent to word boundaries.[3]

Consonants[3]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop p t k
Fricative s h
Flap r
Approximant j w

/p/ and /k/ are voiced fricatives ([β] and [ɣ]) respectively) when intervocalic and unreleased when final (/t/ is also unreleased when final). /ŋ/ is a nasal flap ([ɾ̃]) word-initially and between vowels. /s/ is [ts] initially and may otherwise be palatalized [sʲ].[3] Sequences of any consonant and /w/ are neutralized before /u/ where an offglide is always heard.

Phonotactics

Bilabial and velar consonants and /n/ may be followed by /w/ when initial. Other initial clusters include /pr/, /kr/, /hr/, /hw/, and /hn/ and final clusters are /w/ or /j/ followed by any consonant except for /h/ or /ŋ/.[3]

Notes

  1. May River Iwam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Iwam". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Laycock (1965:115)

References

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