Last updated: 2019-10-29
Background
Language family: Torricelli / Wapei-Palei / Wapei
- Au is spoken in the Sandaun province of Papua New Guinea.
Phonology
Consonants
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|
Place of Articulation
|
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Manner of Articulation
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Bilabial
|
Alveolar
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Palatal
|
Velar
|
|
Stops
|
p
|
t
|
|
k
|
|
Fricatives
|
|
s
|
|
ɣ
|
|
Nasals
|
m
|
n
|
|
|
|
Trills
|
|
r
|
|
|
|
Approximants
|
w
|
|
j
|
|
Vowels
- There are four possible vowel combinations (/ai/, /ɜi/, /au/, /iu/); however, they are seen as separate units rather than complex phonemes (Scorza 1971, 6).
- Although Scorza (1992) transcribes the mid central vowel as /ə/ (p. 2), it’s not indicative of a true schwa, as some words contain only the one such vowel. Both Scorza (1971) and Scorza (1992) indicate that the mid central vowel is representative of a height closer to that of /ʌ/ (p. 13; p. 2), therefore, I have chosen to use /ɜ/.
|
|
Front
|
Central
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Back
|
|
High
|
i
|
ɨ
|
u
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|
High-Mid
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|
|
o
|
|
Low-Mid
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|
ɜ
|
|
|
Low
|
|
a aː
|
|
|
Note: The low central vowels are ordered short and long.
|
Alphabet
|
Grapheme
|
Phoneme
|
|
a
|
a
|
|
e
|
ɜ
|
|
h
|
ɣ
|
|
i
|
i
|
|
ɨ
|
ɨ
|
|
k
|
k
|
|
m
|
m
|
|
n
|
n
|
|
o
|
o
|
|
p
|
p
|
|
r
|
r
|
|
s
|
s
|
|
t
|
t
|
|
u
|
u
|
|
w
|
w
|
|
y
|
j
|
|
Digraph
|
|
|
aa
|
aː
|
Lenition Rules
- Voiceless stops may become voiced word-medially; in such contexts the voiced and voiceless counterparts are said to alternate freely (Scorza 1971, 7–8).
Misc. Rules
- /n/ varies freely with /l/ word-medially (Scorza 1992, 3).
References
Scorza, David P. 1971. “Phonemes of the Au Language.”
———. 1992. “Au Organised Phonology Data.”