Muyuw language (Egum, Murua, Murua Dukwayasi, Murua Kaulae, Muruwa, Muyu, Muyua, Muyuwa) is one of the Kilivila–Louisiades languages (of the Austronesian language family), spoken on the Woodlark Islands, in the Solomon Sea within Papua New Guinea.
Muyuw | |
---|---|
Region | Eastern New Guinea |
Native speakers | (6,000 cited 1998)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | myw |
Glottolog | muyu1244 |
As of 1998[update], the number of speakers is 6,000, 3,000 of whom are monolinguals. Speakers also use Dobu, Kilivila or Misima-Paneati. Latin script is used.
Dialects include Yanaba, Lougaw (Gawa), Wamwan, Nawyem, and Iwa. The Iwa dialect is transitional between Muyuw and Kilivila. Its lexical similarity with Kilivila is 68%.
Phonology
editPhonology of the Muyuw language:[2]
Consonants
editLabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | lab. | plain | lab. | ||||
Plosive | voiceless | p | pʷ | t | k | kʷ | |
voiced | b | bʷ | d | ɡ | ɡʷ | ||
Nasal | m | mʷ | |||||
Fricative | v | s | |||||
Lateral | l | ||||||
Approximant | w | j |
Vowels
editFront | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | ||
Close-mid | e | o | ||
Open-mid | ɛ | ʌ | ɔ | |
Open | a |