Cèmuhî language
| Cèmuhî | |
|---|---|
| Wagap | |
| Native to | New Caledonia |
| Region | Touho: east coast from Congouma to Wagap and inland valleys |
Native speakers | 2,600 (2009)[1] |
| Latin script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cam |
| Glottolog | cemu1238 |
Cemuhî (Camuhi, Camuki, Tyamuhi, Wagap) is an Oceanic language spoken on the island of New Caledonia, in the area of Poindimié, Koné, and Touho. The language has approximately 3,300 speakers and is considered a regional language of France.
Phonology
Consonants
 | This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Consonant chart uses nonstandard, ambiguous symbols and names. (April 2019) |
Cèmuhî has a consonantal distinction of what Rivierre (1980) calls nasal, semi-nasal, and oral consonants. He refers to voiced oral consonants as semi-nasal because they are always prenasalized. [2]
| Labiovelar | Labial | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Laryngeal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | mw hŵ |
m | n | ny | ng | ĥ | ||||||
| Semi-nasal | mbw | mb | nd | nj | ŋg | |||||||
| Oral | pw w |
p | t (r) l |
c | k | (h) | ||||||
Vowels
The chart below shows Cèmuhî vowels, all of which can contrast in both length and nasality. [3]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Tone
Like its neighbour Paicî, Cèmuhî is one of the few Austronesian languages which have developed contrastive tone. However, unlike other New Caledonian tonal languages, Cèmuhî has three tonal registers: high, mid, and low tones. [4]
See also
Notes
Bibliography
- Rivierre, Jean-Claude (1972). Les Tons de la langue de Touho (Nouvelle-Calédonie) : Etude diachronique. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, 1972, vol.67, n°1, p. 301-316.
- Rivierre, Jean-Claude (1980). La Langue de Touho : Phonologie et grammaire du Cèmuhî (Nouvelle-Calédonie). Paris: Société d'Etudes Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France. p. 363.
- Rivierre, Jean-Claude (1983). Dictionnaire cèmuhî – français, suivi d'un lexique français – cèmuhî. Paris: Société d'Etudes Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France. p. 375.