Korowai (Kolufaup) is a Trans-New-Guinean language spoken in South Papua, Indonesia. It is spoken by the Korowai people who live along the Becking River.

Phonology

Consonants[2]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Plosive p b t d ɟ ⟨j⟩ k g
Prenasalized ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ ᵑg ⟨ngg⟩
Fricative ɸ ⟨f⟩ s x ⟨kh⟩
Nasal m n
Approximant w l j ⟨y⟩, ɥ ⟨hü⟩
  • /b/ and /d/ are in free variation with [ɓ] and [ɗ] respectively.
  • /ɸ x/ can be voiced [β ɣ] intervocalically.
Vowels[2]
Front Central Back
High i y ⟨ü⟩ u
Mid-high e ⟨é⟩ (ə ⟨e⟩)
Mid-low ɛ ⟨è⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩
Low a
  • /e/ can be heard as [ɪ] in unstressed syllables.
  • /a/ can vary to [æ] in stressed syllables.
  • /ɔ/ is pronounced [o] before /w/.
  • All vowels are lengthened in stressed syllables and word-finally.
  • /ə/ is epenthetic and is never in stressed syllables.

Stress is unpredictable and phonemic.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ Korowai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c de Vries, Lourens; van Enk, Gerrit J. (1997). The Korowai of Irian Jaya: Their Language and its Cultural Context. Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics. Vol. 9. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195105513.

References

Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korowai_language
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