Wantoat language

Wantoat
Taap
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Morobe Province
Native speakers	(8,200 cited 1978)
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Finisterre–Huon Finisterre Wantoat languages Wantoat
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wnc
Glottolog	want1252
ELP	Wantoat

Wantoat, named after the Wantoat River, is one of the Finisterre languages of Papua New Guinea. Dialects are Wapu (Leron), Central Wantoat, Bam, Yagawak (Kandomin), continuing on to Awara, though the last is only 60–70% lexically similar with Wantoat and Wapu. Major Wantoat villages are Gwabogwat, Mamabam, Matap, Ginonga, Kupung.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
					plain	lab.
Nasal		m	n		ŋ	ŋʷ
Stop	plain	p	t		k	kʷ
	pre.	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ
Fricative	plain		s
	pre.		ⁿz
Approximant				j		w

Consonants clusters with mixed voicing occur within words:

okᵑɡa 'your uncle', kaotⁿdu 'half', ɡeᵐbikᵐbik 'lip', temⁿzin 'they will shoot it', kapⁿza 'strong'

i				u
e				o
		ə
	æ
			ɑ

Vowel sequences are /ie iə iɑ iu, ee eə eɑ eu, əə, ææ æə, ɑɑ ɑo ɑu, oi oə oɑ, uu/.

Syllables are minimally V and maximally CVVC. Stress is distinctive but has a low functional load.