Nengone language
Nengone | |
---|---|
Region | Maré Island, New Caledonia |
Native speakers | 8,700 (2009 census)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nen |
Glottolog | neng1238 |
Nengone is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |
Nengone is a language of the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia.
Phonology
[edit]The phonological inventory of consonants is atypically large for an Oceanic language. Many sounds which are allophones in other sub-families are distinct phonemes in the Nengone language:[2]
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʈ | k | ʔ | ||
voiced | b | d | ɖ | ɡ | ||||
Affricate | voiceless | t͡ʃ | ||||||
voiced | d͡ʒ | |||||||
Fricative | voiceless | (f) | θ | s | ʃ | (x) | h | |
voiced | z | ɣ | ||||||
Nasal | voiceless | m̥ | n̥ | ŋ̊ | ||||
voiced | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
Rhotic | r | |||||||
Approximant | voiceless | w̥ | ||||||
voiced | w | ɭ | j |
Phonemes in parentheses only occur in words borrowed from other languages.[2]
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i | u |
Mid | e | o |
ɛ | ɔ | |
Low | a |
Bibliography
[edit]- Tryon, D.T. and Dubois, M.J. Nengone dictionary. Part I: Nengone-English. C-9, viii + 452 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1969. doi:10.15144/PL-C9
- Tryon, D.T. and Dubois, M.J. Nengone dictionary. Part II: English-Nengone. C-23, iv + 205 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971. doi:10.15144/PL-C23
References
[edit]- ^ Nengone at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ a b Tryon, Darrell T. Nengone grammar. B-6, x + 101 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1967. doi:10.15144/PL-B6