Hamtai (also called Hamday or Kapau) is the most populous of the Angan languages of Papua New Guinea. It is also known as Kamea, Kapau, and Watut. Dialects are Wenta, Howi, Pmasa’a, Hamtai proper, and Kaintiba.[1] The language was unwritten until 2009.[2]
| Hamtai | |
|---|---|
| Hamday | |
| Kapau | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Morobe Province, Gulf Province |
Native speakers | (45,000 cited 1998)[1] |
Trans–New Guinea
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | hmt |
| Glottolog | hamt1247 |
Phonology
editIn Hamtai, there are 14 consonants, 7 vowels, and two tones (rising and falling).
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ |
i /ɨ/ |
u /u/ |
| Close-mid | e /e/ |
o /o/ | |
| Open-mid | ä, aa /ʌ/ | ||
| Open | a /a/ |
Consonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ |
n /n/ |
ng /ŋ/ |
||||
| Plosive | p /p/ |
t /t/ |
k /k/ |
k̥/q /q/ |
' /ʔ/ | ||
| Approximant | voiced | y /j/ |
w /w/ |
||||
| unvoiced | wh /w̥/ |
||||||
| Fricative | voiced | v /v/ |
|||||
| unvoiced | f /f/ |
h /h/ | |||||
References
edit- ^ a b Hamtai at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ "John Allen Chau: Do missionaries help or harm?". BBC News. 28 November 2018.
- ^ a b Healy, Alan (1981). The Phonological Complexity of Kapau. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics. p. 95.
- ^ Oates, W.; Oates, L. (1968). Kapau pedagogical grammar. Canberra, Australia: The Australian National University. pp. 7–8.
