Mumeng language

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Mumeng is a dialect chain of the Austronesian family in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Dambi–Kumalu and Patep–Zenag–Gorakor have a degree of mutual intelligibility. Kapin may belong as well.

Mumeng
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionMorobe Province
Native speakers
(7,100 Kumalu, Zenag, Gorakor cited 1979)[1]
1,700 Patep (2003), 350 Dambi (2000)
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
dac – Dambi
ksl – Kumalu
ptp – Patep (Ptep, Dengalu)
zeg – Zenag (Zenang)
goc – Gorakor
Glottologmume1239
ELPDengalu
Mumeng is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Phonology

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The following is of the Patep dialect:[2]

Consonants

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Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Back-velar Glottal
plain pal. lab. plain pal. plain lab.
Plosive voiceless p t k̠ʷ
prenasal ᵐb ᵐbʲ ᵐbʷ ⁿd ⁿdʲ ᵑɡ̠ ᵑɡ̠ʷ
Affricate ⁿdz
Fricative voiceless s h
voiced/pren. β βʲ (ⁿz) ɣ̠
Nasal m n ŋ̠ ŋ̠ʷ
Lateral l
Approximant β̞ j
  • The prenasal affricate /ⁿdz/ may also fluctuate to a prenasal fricative [ⁿz] in free variation among speech.
  • /ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ̠/ are heard as prenasal voiceless stops [ᵐp, ⁿt, ᵑk̠] when in word-final positions.
  • /k̠/ is mostly heard as a glottal stop [ʔ] in word-final positions.
  • /l/ may be heard as fricativized [l̝] or more fronted as [l̟] in word-final position.[2]

Vowels

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Front Central Back
High i u
High-mid e o
Low-mid ɛ ɔ
Low a

References

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  1. ^ Dambi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Kumalu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Patep (Ptep, Dengalu) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Zenag (Zenang) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Gorakor at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b Lauck, Linda M.; Adams, Karen L. (1975). A tentative phonemic statement of Patep. In Richard Loving (ed.), Phonologies of five Austronesian languages: Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 71–128.