Finongan language

Wikipedia

Finongan
Finungwa
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionMorobe Province
Native speakers
1,140 (2006)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3fag
Glottologfino1238

Finongan is one of the Finisterre languages of Papua New Guinea.[2]

Names

The alternate names for Finongan are Finungwa and Finungwan.[3]

Phonology

The phonology of Finongan is as follows:[4]

Consonants
Labial Coronal Velar Labiovelar Uvular/Glottal
Nasal /m/ m /n/ n /ŋ/ ng
Stops Voiceless /p/ p /t/ t /k/ k // kw
Voiced /b/ b /d/ d /g/ g /ʔ/ c
Fricative /f/ f /s/ s /ʁ/ h
Tap/Flap /ɾ/ l
Approximant /j/ y /w/ w

- The voiceless labial, coronal, and non-labialized velar stops 'p', 't', and 'k' are all unreleased syllable-finally

Vowels
Front Center Back
Close Short /i/ i /u/ u
Long // ii // uu
Mid Short /ɛ/ e /ɔ/ o
Long /ɛː/ ee /ɔː/ oo
Open Diphthong ai ai
Short /a/ a
Long // aa

- In multisyllabic words, 'i' is pronounced /ɪ/ preceding another 'i'

- Several diphthongs can occur over syllable breaks

References

  1. Finongan at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. Rice, Chris and Amy Rice. 2002. Finongan organised phonology data. Manuscript. SIL.
  3. "Glottolog 5.1 - Finongan". glottolog.org. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  4. Rice, Chris and Amy Rice. 2002. Finongan organised phonology data. Manuscript. SIL.