Last Updated: 2020-07-27
Background
Language Family: East Papuan / South Bougainville / East / Nasioi
- Naasioi is also known as Nasioi, Kieta, Kieta Talk, or Aunge. It is spoken in Papua New Guinea in parts of the Kieta District in the Bougainville Province.
Phonology
Consonants
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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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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
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ʔ
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Nasals
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m
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n
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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
- Vowel sequences are prevalent in Naasioi, with words consisting of up to six vowels (C. Hurd and Hurd 1970, 38).
- (Up to four) like-vowels can occur in sequences as well. Length is said to correspond with the number of vowels present in such sequences (i.e. three like-vowels would be longer than two like-vowels). However, instances of these lengthy sequences are not present in the Crúbadán corpus (only sequences of two like-vowels were found).
- Based on this and the fact that C. Hurd (2004) specifies long vowels as sequences of two vowels (p. 2), it puts into question the phonemic status of vowel length. However, Crothers et al. (1979) and Phoible’s listing of the language attest the phonemic status of long vowels (C. Hurd and Hurd 1966). I have chosen to treat vowel length as phonemic, with long vowels represented by duplicate graphemes.
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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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Mid
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e
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o
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
- ⟨v⟩, ⟨s⟩, and ⟨r⟩ represent allophones of /b/, /t/ and /d/ respectively (C. Hurd 2004, 3).
- ⟨j⟩ and ⟨l⟩ appear in loanwords (C. Hurd 2004, 3).
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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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i
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/i/
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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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p
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/p/
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r
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/d/
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s
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/t/
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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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/b/
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’
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/ʔ/
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Digraph
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ts
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/t/
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ng
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/n/
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Syllable Structure
- Syllables in Naasioi take the form of (C)V(C) or N, a syllabic nasal (C. Hurd and Hurd 1970, 38).
Lenition Rules
- When /b/ and /d/ are neither word-initial nor following a glottal stop, /b/ spirantizes and /d/ becomes the alveolar flap (C. Hurd and Hurd 1970, 37).
Misc. Rules
- When followed by /i/, /t/ is pronounced as [s] (C. Hurd and Hurd 1970, 37).
- In slow speech, /d/ can become [r] word-medially (C. Hurd 2004, 3)
- /n/ assimilates to [ŋ] preceding /k/ (ibid.).
References
Crothers, John H., Lorentz James P., Sherman Donald A., and Marilyn M. Vihman. 1979. Handbook of Phonological Data from a Sample of the World’s Languages. Department of Linguistics, Stanford University.
Hurd, Conrad. 2004. “Nasioi Organised Phonology Data.” SIL.
Hurd, Conrad, and Phyllis Hurd. 1966. Nasioi Language Course. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Summer Institute of Linguistics; Department of Information; Extension Services.
———. 1970. “Nasioi Verbs.” In Oceanic Linguistics. Vol. IX.