Ghayavi language
Austronesian language spoken in Papua New Guinea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ghayavi, or Boianaki, is an Austronesian language of the eastern Papua New Guinean mainland.
NativetoPapua New Guinea
RegionMilne Bay Province, tip of Cape Vogel
Native speakers
(2,800 cited 2000 census)[1]Austronesian
-
Malayo-Polynesian
- Oceanic
- Western
- Papuan Tip
- Kilivila – Nuclear Papuan Tip
- Are–Taupota
- Are
- Ghayavi
- Are
- Are–Taupota
- Kilivila – Nuclear Papuan Tip
- Papuan Tip
- Western
- Oceanic
| Ghayavi | |
|---|---|
| Boianaki | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Milne Bay Province, tip of Cape Vogel |
Native speakers | (2,800 cited 2000 census)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bmk |
| Glottolog | ghay1237 |
Phonology
The phonology of Ghayavi is typical of most Oceanic languages[2] in that its phoneme inventory is characterised by a small number of phonemes and few complex articulations. Ghayavi has sixteen consonant phonemes, and thirteen vowel phonemes (including five diphthongs). Stress by default occurs on the penultimate syllable, although there are some examples of contrastive stress to encode semantic difference. One such minimal pair includes /kɑˈwam/ 'your mouth' and /ˈkɑwam/ 'your spouse'.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Labiodental | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Voiced | b | d | g gw | ||
| Voiceless | p | t ɾ | k kw | |||
| Fricative | Voiced | v | v | ɣ | ||
| Voiceless | f | s | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Approximant | w | j |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
External links
- Materials on Ghayavi are included in the open access Arthur Capell collections (AC2) held by Paradisec.
