Maisin language
| Maisin | |
|---|---|
| Region | Oro Province, Papua New Guinea |
| Ethnicity | Maisin people |
Native speakers | 2,600 (2000 census)[1] |
Austronesian or Papuan. | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mbq |
| Glottolog | mais1250 |
Maisin (or Maisan) is a language of Papua New Guinea with both Austronesian and Papuan features. The Austronesian elements are those of the Nuclear Papuan Tip languages. The Papuan element is Binanderean or Dagan. It is spoken by the Maisin people of Oro Province.
Phonology
Vowels
Monophthongs
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Low | a | |
Diphthongs
| Ending with /i/ | Ending with /e/ | Ending with /a/ | Ending with /o/ | Ending with /u/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting with /i/ | /ii/ | /ia/ | |||
| Starting with /e/ | /ei/ | /ee/ | /eu/ | ||
| Starting with /a/ | /ai/ | /aa/ | /au/ | ||
| Starting with /o/ | /oi/ | /oo/ | /ou/ | ||
| Starting with /u/ | /ua/ | /uu/ |
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | Unrounded | Rounded | ||||
| Stop | Voiceless | p | t | k | (kʷ) | ||
| Voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | (ŋ) | ||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | ɸ | ɸʷ | s | |||
| Voiced | β | ʝ | |||||
| Flap | ɾ | ||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||
[ŋ] and [kʷ] are not phonemic, but are distinguished in the orthography.
Phonotactics
Syllables can begin and end with up to one consonant each. I.e., English wrong /rɔŋ/ would be an acceptable word, but strength /streŋθ/ would not. Words can only end in either a vowel or [ŋ]. The vowels /u/ and /o/ never occur word-initially. /β/ never occurs before /o/ or /u/.
Writing system
| A a | B b | D d | E e | F f | Fw fw | G g | I i | J j | K k | M m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | /b/ | /d/ | /e/ | /ɸ/ | /ɸʷ/ | /ɡ/ | /i/ | /ʝ/ | /k/ | /m/ |
| N n | O o | R r | S s | T t | U u | V v | W w | Y y | Kw kw | Ŋ ŋ |
| [n] | /o/ | /ɾ/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /β/ | /w/ | /j/ | [kʷ] | [ŋ] |
Literacy varies from 20% to 80% in different areas.
See also
- Magori language, a similar case
References
- ^ Maisin at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- Ray, Sidney H. (Jul–Dec 1911). "Comparative notes on Maisin and other languages of eastern Papua". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 41: 397–405. doi:10.2307/2843181. JSTOR 2843181.
- Ross, Malcolm (1984). Maisin: a preliminary sketch. Pacific Linguistics.
- Strong, W. M. (Jul–Dec 1911). "The Maisin Language". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 41: 381–396. doi:10.2307/2843180. JSTOR 2843180.
External links
- Bada ari Foraga ari Buandi ari nane, ai Totoruga Muanfafusi The Service of Holy Communion in the Maisin Language (1921 translation digitized by Richard Mammana)
- Maisin organised phonology data