Aghu language

(Redirected from Central Awyu)

Aghu, or Central Awyu, is a Papuan language of South Papua, Indonesia. It may actually be two languages, depending on one's criteria for a 'language'. The two varieties are: Mappi River Awyu (Aghu) and Pasue River Awyu (Nohon, Mitak).[2]

Aghu
Central Awyu
RegionSouth Papua, Indonesia
Native speakers
(<14,000 cited 1987–2002)[1]
Dialects
  • Aghu
  • Nohon
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
ahh – Aghu
awu – Central Awyu
Glottologmapp1234

Phonology

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The phonology of the Aghu language:[3]

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d~ɾ ɡ
Fricative f s~ʃ x
Approximant w j
Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i y u
Mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Open a

The front rounded vowel /y/ is unusual among local languages in Indonesia. At the ends of words, vowels may appear both long and nasalized. This occurs historically where there was a final nasal /m/ or /n/. Within words, rather than nasal vowels there are sequences of vowel plus nasal consonant which matches the articulation of the following consonant. Thus nasal vowels may be analyzed as /Vn/ or /VN/.

References

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  1. ^ Aghu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
    Central Awyu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
  2. ^ "Awyu". newguineaworld. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
  3. ^ van den Heuvel, Wilco (2016). Aghu: Annotated Texts With Grammatical Introduction and Vocabulary Lists. A-PL 33. Canberra: Australian National University. hdl:1885/111412. ISBN 9781922185358.

Further reading

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