ʼAuhelawa language
| ʼAuhelawa | |
|---|---|
| Kurada | |
| Native to | Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Nuakata Island |
Native speakers | 950 (2015)[1] |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kud |
| Glottolog | auhe1237 |
ʼAuhelawa is an Austronesian language found in Nuakata Island and the southeastern tip of Normanby Island in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea.[2] It was spoken by about 1,200 people in 1998, 30% of whom were monolingual in the language.
The literacy rate for first-language speakers is 85%, and is also 85% for second-language users. There are translated Bible portions into the language from 1986–1993.
ʼAuhelawa examples
A: Auge, yauwedo. Haidova u lalau? ('My friend, hello. Where are you going?')
B: Ya lalau oyai. Yagu oya vauvauna ya tudai. Owa haidova u lau? ('I am going to the garden. I dig my new garden. Where did you go?')
A: Ya dobi gogowai yada bada ehebo ya ita. Teina gona sabate mata yana vada vauvauna ya abi. ('I went down to the village to see one of our uncles. Next week I will build his new house.')
B: Yau dova nuwanuwagu yada bada ya hagui. Ebe u dobi u vada abi, u lauma u vaigau ta dobi ta paihowa. ('I also want to help our uncle. When you go down to housebuild, you come and get me and we go down and work.')
A: Ausala. Mata ta itago. ('Good. We will see you.')
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Low | a | |
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | round | plain | round | plain | round | ||||
| Nasal | m | mʷ | n | ||||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | pʷ | t | ʔ | ʔʷ | |||
| voiced | b | bʷ | d | ɡ | ɡʷ | ||||
| Fricative | β | s | h | ||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||||
Writing system
ʼAuhelawa is written in the Latin script. About 85% of the population is literate.
| A a | B b | Bw bw | D d | E e | G g | Gw gw | H h | I i | K k | L l | M m | Mw mw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | /b/ | /bʷ/ | /d/ | /ɛ/ | /ɡ/ | /ɡʷ/ | /h/ | /i/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ | /mʷ/ |
| N n | O o | P p | Pw pw | S s | T t | U u | V v | W w | Y y | ʼ | ʼW ʼw | |
| /n/ | /ɔ/ | /p/ | /pʷ/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /β/ | /ɥ/ | /j/ | /ʔ/ | /ʔʷ/ |
References
- ↑ ʼAuhelawa at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ↑ Lithgow, David (1992). "Language Change on Fergusson and Normanby Islands, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea". In Dutton, Thomas Edward (ed.). Culture Change, Language Change: Case Studies from Melanesia. Pacific Linguistics Series C. Vol. 120. Australian National University. p. 40. doi:10.15144/PL-C120. ISBN 978-0-85883-411-8.
- 1 2 3 "Organized Phonology Data: Auhelawa Language [KUD]". SIL International. 2004.