Takia is an Austronesian language spoken on Karkar Island, Bagabag Island, and coastal villages Megiar and Serang, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. It has been syntactically restructured by Waskia, a Papuan language spoken on the island.

Takia
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionMadang Province
Native speakers
(undated figure of 40,000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3tbc
Glottologtaki1248

Children are discouraged from using Takia, and it is being supplanted by Tok Pisin and English.[citation needed]

Phonology edit

Consonant sounds
Labial Alveolar Velar
Plosive p b t d k g
Nasal m n ŋ
Fricative f s
Rhotic r
Lateral l
Glide w j

Voiced stops can be optionally prenasalised word initially as [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ] in some dialects.

Vowel sounds
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

/a/ is heard as [æ] before a consonant preceding /i/. The sequence /ae/ is pronounced word-initially and word-medially as [æː].[2]

References edit

  1. ^ Takia at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)  
  2. ^ Ross, Malcolm (2002). Takia. John Lynch and Malcolm Ross and Terry Crowley (eds.), The Oceanic Languages: Richmond: Curzon. pp. 216–248.

External links edit