Golin language
Chimbu language spoken in Papua New Guinea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Golin (also Gollum, Gumine) is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea.
| Golin | |
|---|---|
| Region | Gumine District, Simbu Province |
Native speakers | (50,000 cited 1981)[1] |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | gvf |
| Glottolog | goli1247 |
Phonology
Vowels
Diphthongs that occur are /ɑi ɑu ɔi ui/. The consonants /l n/ can also be syllabic.
Consonant
/bʷ ɡʷ/ are treated as single consonants by Bunn & Bunn (1970),[2] but as combinations of /b/ + /w/, /ɡ/ + /w/ by Evans et al. (2005).[3]
Two consonants appear to allow free variation in their realisations: [s] varies with [ʃ], and [l] with [ɬ].
/n/ assimilates to [ŋ] before /k/ and /ɡ/.
Tone
Golin is a tonal language, distinguishing high ([˧˥]), mid ([˨˧]), and low ([˨˩]) tone. The high tone is marked by an acute accent and the low tone by a grave accent, while the mid tone is left unmarked. Examples:[3]
- High: mú [mu˧˥] 'type of snake'; wí [wi˧˥] 'scream (man)'
- Mid: mu [mu˨˧] 'type of bamboo'; wi [wi˨˧] 'coming from the same ethnic group'
- Low: mù [mu˨˩] 'sound of river'; wì [wi˨˩] 'cut (verb)'
Pronouns
Golin is notable for having a small pronominal paradigm. There are two basic pronouns:[4]
- ná first person
- í second person
There is no number distinction and no true third person pronoun. Third person pronouns in Golin are in fact compounds derived from 'man' plus inín 'self':
- yalíni 'he' < yál 'man' + inín 'self'
- abalíni 'she' < abál 'woman' + inín 'self'
