Fwâi language
Austronesian language spoken in New Caledonia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fwâi (Poai) is a Kanak language of New Caledonia, spoken in the commune of Hienghène. In 2009, there were around 1,900 speakers of Fwâi. It’s considered a vulnerable language by the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.
NativetoHienghène, New Caledonia
Native speakers
1,900 (2009 census)[1]Austronesian
-
Malayo-Polynesian
- Oceanic
- Southern Oceanic
- New Caledonian – Loyalties
- New Caledonian
- Northern New Caledonian
- North Northern
- Nemi
- Fwâi
- Nemi
- North Northern
- Northern New Caledonian
- New Caledonian
- New Caledonian – Loyalties
- Southern Oceanic
- Oceanic
| Fwâi | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Hienghène, New Caledonia |
Native speakers | 1,900 (2009 census)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | fwa |
| Glottolog | fwai1237 |
 Fwâi is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | plain | lab. | ||||||
| Stop | voiceless | (p) | (pʷ) | (t) | (c) | (k) | |||
| aspirated | pʰ | pʰʷ | (tʰ) | (kʰ) | |||||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ᵐbʷ | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | (f) | (fʷ) | s | h | |||
| voiced | β | ɣ | |||||||
| Nasal | voiceless | m̥ | m̥ʷ | n̥ | ɲ̊ | ||||
| voiced | m | mʷ | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| Approximant | voiceless | w̥ | l̥ | j̊ | |||||
| voiced | w | l | j | ||||||
| Rhotic | voiceless | r̥ | |||||||
| voiced | r | ||||||||
- Consonant sounds in parentheses occur either rarely, or from loanwords.[2]
