Sinaugoro language

Austronesian language spoken in Papua New Guinea From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sinaugoro is an Austronesian language of Papua New Guinea. It is mainly spoken in the Rigo District of Central Province by some 15,000 people.[2] The language is closely related to Motu.

Native speakers
(18,000 cited 2000 census)[1]
Quick facts Native to, Region ...
Sinaugoro
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionCentral Province
Native speakers
(18,000 cited 2000 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3snc
Glottologsina1266
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Phonology

Consonants

More information Labial, Alveolar ...
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
plain lab.
Plosive voiceless t k
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
Fricative voiceless f s
voiced v (ʝ) ɣ ɣʷ
Nasal m n
Rhotic r
Approximant l (j)
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  • /i/ is heard as a glide [j] when in word-initial position before a vowel, or within a syllable or syllable-initial onset.
  • /ɣ/ is heard as palatal [ʝ] when before front vowels.[3]

Vowels

More information Front, Central ...
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  • Sounds /e, o/ are heard as [ɛ, ɔ] when in stressed syllables, or when the nucleus of the following syllable is /a/ or /o/.[3]

Writing system

Sinaugoro alphabet[4]
abdef gḡwik kwlmno rstuv

Grammar

Sinaugoro is an agglutinative language with ergative alignment and subject–object–verb (SOV) word order.[5] Number is marked explicitly on the verb and freely within the noun phrase, but is not marked on the noun itself. A morphological distinction is made in Sinaugoro between the possession of alienable and inalienable nouns, and then between the alienable possession of edible and inedible objects.[6]

Verbal indexing of person and number in Sinaugoro makes freestanding personal pronouns optional. These are given below, displaying a distinction between inclusive and exclusive.

More information singular, plural ...
Personal pronouns in Sinaugoro[7]
singular plural
1st person exclusive au gai
inclusive gita
2nd person goi gomi
3rd person gia gia
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Notes

References

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