Waima language

The Waima language (sometimes known as Roro, though this is strictly the name of one dialect of Waima) is a Nuclear West Central Papuan Tip language of the Oceanic group of Malayo-Polynesian languages, spoken in Papua New Guinea by 15,000 people. The three dialects, Waima, Roro, and Paitana, are very close.

Waima
Region	Eastern New Guinea
Native speakers	15,000 (2000 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic Papuan Tip Central Papuan Tip West Central Nuclear West Central Waima
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rro
Glottolog	waim1251

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p	t tʲ	k	ʔ
Fricative	β			h
Rhotic		ɾ
Approximant	w

/n/ can be palatalized as [ɲ] when before vowel sequences /ao, au/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

External links

• Waima Grammar Essentials
• Waima Organized Phonology Data