Last Updated: 2020-08-04
Background
Language Family: Trans-New Guinea / Main Section / Eastern / Central and Southeastern / Koiarian / Baraic
- Aomie, also called Ömie or Omie, is a Trans-New Guinean language spoken along the Mamama River in the Upper Kumusi Valley.
Phonology
Consonants
- The contrast between /p/ and /h/ has neutralized for some speakers (Austing and Upia 1975, 517).
- Depending on the age and location/dialect of Aomie speakers, contrasts may be made between what have been considered allophones of /p/ and /h/ (Dutton 1969, 142). For example, younger speakers may additionally contrast /pʰ/, /ɸ/, and /f/. I, however, opt to treat these as allophones just as Dutton (1969) as well as Austing and Upia (1975) do.
- /k/ is extremely marginal, often replaced with /ʔ/ (Austing and Upia 1975, 519).
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Alveolar
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Postalveolar
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Velar
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Glottal
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Stops
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p b
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t d
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k ɡ
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ʔ
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Affricates
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dʒ
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Fricatives
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v
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s
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h
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Nasals
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m
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n
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Flaps
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ɾ
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Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless and those on the right are voiced.
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Vowels
- Austing and Upia (1975) include a phonemic mid-central vowel, interpreted as /ə/ (p. 518). However, Dutton (1969) argues that it is actually an allophone of /o/ (although he recognizes its phonemic status in other dialects - e.g. Asapa). I have opted to treat [ə] as allophonic, and not include it below.
- Based on the syllable structure of Aomie (see Syllable Structure below), vowels that appear adjacent to one another constitute complex phonemes (Austing and Upia 1975, 518). Complex nuclei may consist of up to three vowels.
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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High-Mid
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e
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o
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Low-Mid
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æ
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ɔ
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Low
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a
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Diphthongs
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/ie/, /iæ/, /ia/, /io/, /iɔ/, /ae/, /ui/, /ue/, /ua/, /uo/, /uæ/
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Triphthongs
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/iae/, /iaæ/, /iɔe/, /iɔæ/, /uae/, /uaæ/
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Alphabet
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Grapheme
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Phoneme
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a
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/a/
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b
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/b/
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d
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/d/
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e
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/e/
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ë
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/æ/
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g
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/ɡ/
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h
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/h/
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i
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/i/
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j
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/dʒ/
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k
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/k/
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m
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/m/
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n
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/n/
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o
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/o/
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ö
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/ɔ/
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p
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/p/
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r
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/ɾ/
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s
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/s/
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t
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/t/
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u
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/u/
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v
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/v/
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’
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/ʔ/
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Syllable Structure
- Word-initial syllables consist of either a (C)V or (C)(V)VV structure (Austing and Upia 1975, 518). Everywhere else, syllable follow the order C(V)(V)V.
Misc. Rules
- /v/ is generally realized as [β] or [w] (Austing and Upia 1975, 517–18).
- Labialization and palatalization of consonants occurs in the language (Dutton 1969, 142).
- Glottal stops, although not orthographically marked, predictably precede word-initial vowels (“Ömie Organised Phonology Data” 2004, 4).
References
Dutton, Thomas Edward. 1969. “The Koiarian Languages of Central Papua : An Historical, and Descriptive Linguistic Study.” PhD Thesis, Australian National University.
“Ömie Organised Phonology Data.” 2004. SIL.