Fore language

Fore or Foré /ˈfɔːr/[2] is a Kainantu-Goroka language spoken in the Goroka District of Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

Fore
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionGoroka District, Eastern Highlands Province
EthnicityFore
Native speakers
(17,000 cited 1991)[1]
Dialects
  • Pamusa
Language codes
ISO 639-3for
Glottologfore1270

Phonology

The consonants of Fore are as follows:[3]

Bilabial Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stops Plain p k ʔ
Prenasalized mp n̪t̪~nt ŋk
Nasals m n̪~n
Fricative s̪~s
Approximants w j

All the dental consonants can vary to alveolar, except /t̪/ which is always dental. /p/, /t̪/, and /k/ are pronounced as /b/, /ɾ/, and /g/ between vowels. Velar consonants are labialized after rounded vowels. /j/ is often pronounced as a fricative /ʝ/.

Fore has six vowels:

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid ʌ
Open

It also has four diphthongs: ae, ao, ai, and au.

Fore has a pitch accent system. Each syllable is either accented or unaccented. Multiple accented syllables can occur in the same word, but they cannot be adjacent to each other.

References

  1. Fore at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
  3. Graham Scott. 1977. The Fore Language of Papua New Guinea. (Doctoral dissertation, Australian National University; xvi+244pp.)
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