Tungag, orLavongai, is anAustronesian language ofNew Ireland Province,Papua New Guinea, localizedNew Hanover, the native name of which isLavongai.

Since Lavongai is an Austronesian language, it follows several of the unique characteristics of this language group. Examples include the specific form for the singular, dual, trial and plural tense, the clarity of knowing if the person spoken to is included or excluded in the dual, trial and plural tenses, and the defining of the possessive tense expressed by an ending added to the noun. However, unlike the languages spoken in Papua New Guinea, it has not adopted and mixed with other languages.^[2]

It is spoken on the island of New Hanover and its neighboring islands. There are different dialects of the Lavongai language. The major difference between the language dialects is between the villages of the south coast and the villages from the western tip to the islands on the north coast. There are also smaller differences between villages, but it does not have a major effect on the communication between these villages.^[2]

Its endangered level (according toEthnologue) is 5, which means it is a language used frequently, so there is no fear that it will be endangered, but is not considered the main language of New Guinea.

Phoneme inventory of the Tungag language:^[3]

/x,ɣ/ are allophones of/k,ɡ/.

(Note: These references do not include/ɸ,β,x,ɣ,ɔ/ and germinate^{[clarification needed]} consonants)

In the Lavongai language, there are 21 letters – six vowels and fifteen consonants. These letters are⟨ʌ, a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, ŋ, o, p, r, s, t, u, v⟩.^[2]

In the Lavongai language, there are six vowels: a, e, i, o, u, ʌ.

The/ʌ/ is pronounced as the/uh/ inbutter. The other vowels,/a/,/e/,/i/,/o/,/u/, are pronounced the same as their pronunciation in the Latin language. Thus they all can be pronounced as a long vowel or a short vowel. However, the/i/ retains its/i/ sound unlike the Latin language, in which the/i/ is pronounced as/y/ if thei is behind another vowel.^[2]

In the Lavongai language, there are 15 consonants: b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, ŋ, p, r, s, t, v.^[2]

Many consonants can be replaced/deleted.

Some considerf andh letters in the alphabet, but others do not.^[2]

The letterf can usually be replaced by the letterp.

• kafil / kapil – 'the headgear of the women'
• difil / dipil – 'to come back from fishing without result'

While there are some cases wherep cannot replacef, the number of cases is very small.^[2]

• tapak cannot becometafak
  • tafak – 'lightning'
  • tapak – 'leprosy'

The letterb can be replaced byv.^[2]

• beŋebeŋe/veŋeveŋe – 'the hornbill'
• bil/vil – 'to do, the deed'
• bis/vis – 'to fight, the fight'

The letterr can be replaced byd.^[2]

• rauŋ/dauŋ – 'to kill, the killing'
• ororuŋ/oroduŋ – 'to dream, the dream'
• rokot/dokot – 'stick fast'
• ruduai/duduai – 'to meet'

Unlike like the above letters, the letterh is normally dropped. Dropping the letterh in a word does not change the meaning at all.^[2]

• hat/at – 'stone'
• hainʌ/ainʌ – 'woman/female'
• his/is – 'nose'

In the Lavongai language, there are seven diphthongs:/au/,/oi/,/ai/,/ei/,/ao/,/eu/, and/ua/.^[2]

The diphthongs/au/,/oi/,/ai/ have the same pronunciation as the diphthongs inhow,high, andboy in English. However, the other diphthongs do not have a perfect sound.^{[clarification needed][2]}

The diphthong/au/ can sometimes replace the vowela if it is a three-letter word and between two consonants and vice versa. This practice is more common in the dialects spoken on the north coast.^[2]

• sap may be changed intosaup – 'to beat'
• ŋat may be changed intoŋaut – 'cut grass'
• tan may be changed intotaun* – 'the day'
• ŋanvak may be changed intoŋanwauk – 'the morning'
• ilesvak may be changed intoilesvauk – 'tomorrow'

However, this replacement can not be done to every word. Listed below are some of the words that can not have use thea/au replacement.^[2]

• vap – 'people'
• nat – 'son'
• mat – 'dead'
• taun* – 'to cook'

Note:taun has two meanings: 'the day' or to cook'.

The diphthong/ua/ can sometimes be replaced with the vowelso ora.^[2]

• a pua nat /a po nat – 'the boys'
• a pua aina /a pa aina – 'the women'
• a veua /a veo – 'the shark'

The diphthongs/ai/ and/ei/ can be used interchangeably.^[2]

• nei/nai – 'in, the inner part, the intestines'
• vei/vai – 'not, lest'
• veiniŋ/vainiŋ

These are nouns that cannot be marked with a possession marker, nor can they be counted.^[4]

• kʌ-g Kerek – 'my Kerek' (Kerek is a name)
• lamʌn – 'water'

Alienable nouns are nouns that have a possessive pronoun preceding the noun.^[4]

• kʌ-mem ŋono posong – 'our two names'
• kʌ-g aina – 'my wife'

Inalienable nouns are nouns that use a suffix to express the possessive.^[4]

• pukun-ina – 'its body'
• ŋur-uria – 'their mouths'

When counting from one to ten, the Lavongai language counts based on groups of fives and tens.^[4]

The numerals 'one' through 'four' are mono-morphemic words.^[4]

• sikei – 'one'
• ponguʌ – 'two'
• potol – 'three'
• puat – 'four'

The numeral 'five' is distinct with its two-morpheme composition.^[4]

• pal-pal lima – 'five'

The numerals 'six' through 'nine' are based on adding 'one' through 'four' to the numeral 'five'.^[4]

• lima-le-sikei – 'five-from-one / six'

The words for 'two' to 'four' can be shortened by omitting the first syllable and changingo tou.^[4]

• puat →-at
• ponguʌ →-nguʌ
• potol →-tul
• lima-le-at – 'five-from-four / nine'

Likewise to the numeral 'five', 'ten' also has a distinct two-morpheme composition.^[4]

• sikei a sangauli – 'ten'

The Lavongai language follows the SVO (subject–verb–object) structure.^[3]

• Meso-Melanesian languages
• Languages of New Ireland Province

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