| Mapos | |
|---|---|
| Central Buang | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Morobe Province |
Native speakers | 7,000 (2001)[1] 1,400 monolinguals (2001)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bzh |
| Glottolog | mapo1242 |
Mapos Buang, also known asMapos orCentral Buang, is anOceanic language inMorobe Province,Papua New Guinea.
Mapos Buang has a larger sound inventory than is typical of most Austronesian languages.[citation needed] Notable is the existence of a phonemic contrast between a velar nasal and a uvular nasal, which is extremely rare among the world's languages. Along with this, its phonology is unusually symmetrical compared to most other languages.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i(ː) | u(ː) | |
| Mid | e(ː)⟨ë⟩ | ə*⟨e⟩ | o(ː) |
| Low | ɛ(ː)⟨e⟩ | a(ː) | ɔ(ː)⟨ö⟩ |
*[ə] is a prominent feature of Buang phonology, but is not contrastive. Thus both it and [e] are represented with⟨e⟩.
Vowel length is shown in the orthography by doubling the letter.[2]
| Bilabial | Coronal | Post-alv./ Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar | Uvular | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ⟨ny⟩ | ŋ⟨ng⟩ | ŋʷ⟨ngw⟩ | ɴ⟨nġ⟩ |
| (prenasalized) Occlusive | ᵐb⟨b⟩ | ⁿd⟨d⟩ | ⁿdʒ⟨j⟩ | ᵑɡ⟨g⟩ | ᵑɡʷ⟨gw⟩ | ᶰɢ⟨ġ⟩ |
| p | t | tʃ⟨s⟩ | k | kʷ⟨kw⟩ | q⟨ḳ⟩ | |
| Continuant | β⟨v⟩ | l̪⟨l⟩ | j⟨y⟩ | ɣ⟨gg⟩ | w* | ʁ⟨h⟩ |
| Liquid | l~ɽ |
*/w/ is a bilabial approximant or semivowel with no co-articulated velar component. It is placed in the labio-velar series of the chart as it fills a gap in this position./β/ is a voiced bilabial fricative.
Orthography is the same as in the IPA when nothing is shown.
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