| Abau | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Sandaun Province |
Native speakers | 7,500 (2008 census)[1] |
Sepik
| |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | aau |
| Glottolog | abau1245 |
| ELP | Abau |
Abau is aPapuan language spoken in southernSandaun Province ofPapua New Guinea, primarily along the border with Indonesia.
In 2002, there were estimated to be between 4,500 and 5,000 speakers, and this number does not appear to have declined since the first accurate count in the 1970s.
Abau is reported to havewhistled speech.
Abau has the simplest phonemic inventory in the Sepik language family.[2]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open | ɑ |
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Plosive | p | k | |||
| Fricative | s | h | |||
| Flap | ɾ | ||||
| Semivowel | j | w |
Pronouns are:[3]
| Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | ha ~ han | hror | hrom | |
| Second | hwon ~ hun | hoh | hom | |
| Third | Masculine | hiy ~ hi | ||
| Femenine | hok | |||
The dual and plural numbers only distinguish between first person and non-first person. Also, the third-person gender distinction exists only for the singular, but not the dual or plural forms.
Abaunoun classes are:[3]
| class | formal marker | semantics |
|---|---|---|
| class 1 | pru | human, spirits |
| class 2 | k(a)- | animals and default |
| class 3 | na | small objects with some volume |
| class 4 | s(i)- | flat surface objects |
| class 5 | pi | long thin objects |
| class 6 | u | geographical locations |
| class 7 | i | flat objects with little volume |
| class 8 | ri | certain types of trees |
| class 9 | ein(d)- | bundles of long uncut items |
| class 10 | reik | temporal |
| class 11 | hnaw | bundles of long cut items |
| class 12 | houk- | part of a long object |
Nouns can take on different class affixes depending on the physical characteristics being emphasized. Examples:[3]
Like most otherSepik languages, Abau overtly marksgrammatical gender (seeSepik languages#Gender). The same object can be classified as either masculine or feminine, depending on the physical characteristics intended for emphasis. Example:[3]
Abau had threeperiodic tense suffixes: diurnal -kok, postmeridial -ropay and nocturnal -nayr[4]
The following basic vocabulary words are from Foley (2005)[5] and Laycock (1968),[6] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[7]
| gloss | Abau |
|---|---|
| head | makwe |
| ear | nwek |
| eye | nane; nanɛ |
| nose | kasan |
| tooth | nas |
| tongue | sane; sanɛ |
| leg | sune; sunɛ |
| louse | mapru |
| dog | nwɔf; nwɔhɔ |
| pig | fwok |
| bird | ahnɛ |
| egg | ne |
| blood | nyoh |
| bone | ayo; i |
| skin | ohi |
| breast | mu |
| tree | no; nɔw |
| man | lu; or; ur |
| woman | sa |
| sun | e; ey |
| moon | yen; yeny |
| water | fu; hu |
| fire | ya |
| stone | məny |
| name | uru |
| eat | ra |
| one | mun; rin |
| two | pris |
