ʼAuhelawa language

(Redirected from 'Auhelawa)

ʼAuhelawa is an Austronesian language found in Nuakata Island and the southeastern tip of Normanby Island in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea.[2] It was spoken by about 1,200 people in 1998, 30% of whom were monolingual in the language.[citation needed]

ʼAuhelawa
Kurada
Native toMilne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea
RegionNuakata Island
Native speakers
950 (2015)[1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3kud
Glottologauhe1237
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The literacy rate for first-language speakers is 85%, and is also 85% for second-language users. There are translated Bible portions into the language from 1986–1993.[citation needed]

ʼAuhelawa examples

edit

A: Auge, yauwedo. Haidova u lalau? ('My friend, hello. Where are you going?')

B: Ya lalau oyai. Yagu oya vauvauna ya tudai. Owa haidova u lau? ('I am going to the garden. I dig my new garden. Where did you go?')

A: Ya dobi gogowai yada bada ehebo ya ita. Teina gona sabate mata yana vada vauvauna ya abi. ('I went down to the village to see one of our uncles. Next week I will build his new house.')

B: Yau dova nuwanuwagu yada bada ya hagui. Ebe u dobi u vada abi, u lauma u vaigau ta dobi ta paihowa. ('I also want to help our uncle. When you go down to housebuild, you come and get me and we go down and work.')

A: Ausala. Mata ta itago. ('Good. We will see you.')

Phonology

edit

Vowels

edit
Vowels[3]
Front Back
High i u
Mid ɛ ɔ
Low a

Consonants

edit
Consonants[3]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain round plain round plain round
Nasal m n
Stop voiceless p t ʔ ʔʷ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
Fricative β s h
Approximant w l j


Writing system

edit

ʼAuhelawa is written in the Latin script. About 85% of the population is literate.[citation needed]

Orthography[3]
A a B b Bw bw D d E e G g Gw gw H h I i K k L l M m Mw mw
/a/ /b/ /bʷ/ /d/ /ɛ/ /ɡ/ /ɡʷ/ /h/ /i/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /mʷ/
N n O o P p Pw pw S s T t U u V v W w Y y ʼ ʼW ʼw
/n/ /ɔ/ /p/ /pʷ/ /s/ /t/ /u/ /β/ /ɥ/ /j/ /ʔ/ /ʔʷ/

References

edit
  1. ^ ʼAuhelawa at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
  2. ^ Lithgow, David (1992). "Language Change on Fergusson and Normanby Islands, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea". In Dutton, Thomas Edward (ed.). Culture Change, Language Change: Case Studies from Melanesia. Pacific Linguistics Series C. Vol. 120. Australian National University. p. 40. doi:10.15144/PL-C120. ISBN 978-0-85883-411-8.
  3. ^ a b c "Organized Phonology Data: Auhelawa Language [KUD]". SIL International. 2004.