Mufian language

Mufian
Southern Arapesh
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	East Sepik Province
Native speakers	11,000 (1998)[1]
Language family	Torricelli Arapesh Mufian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	aoj
Glottolog	mufi1238[2]

Mufian (Muhian, Muhiang), or Southern Arapesh, is an Arapesh language (Torricelli) of Papua New Guinea. Dialects are Supari, Balif, Filifita (Ilahita), Iwam-Nagalemb, Nagipaem; Filifita speakers are half the population, at 6,000 in 1999.^[1]

Noun classes

There are 17 classes for count nouns in Mufian, plus two extra classes, i.e. proper names and place names. Noun classes are expressed in noun suffixes, adjective suffixes, and verb prefixes.

Some examples of Mufian noun classes:

Class	Example	Sg. Noun Suffix	Sg. Adjective Suffix	Sg. Verb Prefix	Pl. Noun Suffix	Pl. Adjective Suffix	Pl. Verb Prefix
Class 1	bol (sg.), bongof (pl.), pig	-l	-li	l-	-ngof	-ngufi	f-
Class 2	éngel (sg.), angof (pl.), name	-ngél	-ngili	g-	-ngof	-ngufi	f-
Class 3	nalof (sg.), nalelef (pl,), tooth	-f	-fi	f-	-lef	-lefi	f-
Class 4	lowaf (sg.), lu'ongof (pl.), clothes	-f	-fi	f-	-nguf	-fi	f-
Class 5	batéwin (sg.), batéwis (pl.), child	-n	-ni	n-	-s	-si	s-
Class 6	alupini (sg.), alupisi (pl.), friend	-ni	-ni	n-	-si	-si	s-
Class 7	nombat (sg.), nombangw (pl.), dog	-t, -ta	-tei	t-	-ngw	-ngwi	gw-
Class 8	nemata'w (sg.), nematawa (pl.), woman	-'w	-kwi	kw-	-wa	-wei	w-
Class 9	nam (sg.), naep (pl), eye	-m	-mi	m-	-p	-pi	p-
Class 10	lawang (sg.), lawah (pl.), tree	-g, -ga	-gwei	g-	-h	-ngéhi	h-
Class 11	bemb (sg.), bembeh (pl.), betel nut	-b	-mbi	b-	-h	-mbihi	h-
Class 12	nongwatop (sg.), nongwatoh (pl.), knife	-p	-pi	p-	-h	-hi	h-
Class 13	wambel (sg.), walemb (pl.), village	-mbel	-mbili	b-	-lemb	-lembi	b-
Class 14	mai'una (sg.), ma'unamb (pl.), pigeon	-a	-ni	n-	-amb	-mbi	b-
Class 15	usin (sg.), usimb (pl.), crested pigeon	-n	-ni	n-	-b	-mbi	b-
Class 16	aman (sg.), amam (pl.), man	-n	-nei	n-	-m	-mi	m-
Class 17	kos (sg.), kos (pl.), course	-s	-si	s-	-s	-si	s-

There are a few irregularities in these noun classes.^[3]

Sound System

Consonant Phonemes of Mufian^[4]

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar		Glottal
			labialized	plain	labialized	plain
Nasal	m	n
Stop	p b	t d	kʷ ɡʷ	k ɡ	ʔʷ	ʔ
Fricative	f	s				h
Approximant	w	l

Vowel Phonemes of Mufian

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low	æ	ɡ

References

1. Mufian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Mufian". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
3. "Some Muhiang Grammatical Notes" by J. Alungum, R. J. Conrad, and J. Lukas
4. "Mufian Organised Phonology Data" by R. J. Conrad