Iau language

There are six consonants. /t d/ are dental; /s/ is alveolar. /b d/ are implosive, and may be realized as nasals before the low nasal vowel /ã/. /d/ may also be realized as the liquid [l].

/f/ is pronounced [ɸ]~[h] word-initially, or as [x] before the high nonback vowels /i ɨ/. The labial allophone [ɸ] is preferred in the Foi dialect; the glottal allophone [h] is preferred in Turu. It is always pronounced [h] word-medially and as an unreleased plosive [p̚] word-finally. /f/ is the only consonant that can occur word-finally.

The low vowel is always nasalized, except when it is a component of a diphthong. The open-mid front vowel varies between [e], [ɛ], and [æ].

The following diphthongs exist:

No diphthongs begin with /ɪ i i̝/ or end in /a ɔ/.

There are two triphthongs: /aui/ and /aʊɪ/. The back components of these triphthongs are realized as unrounded.

Syllables consist minimally of a vowel. They may include a single onset consonant and/or a single coda consonant. Diphthongs and triphthongs are attested. The template is (C)(V)V(V)(C). The tone-bearing unit is the syllable.

Stress in Iau is predictable: it falls on the final syllable of disyllabic words. (Words may not be longer than two syllables.) The interaction between stress and tone is not clear.

Iau is the most tonally complex Lakes Plain language. Unlike other Lakes Plain languages which can be disyllabic or trisyllabic, Iau word structure is predominantly monosyllabic. Iau has eight phonemic tones, transcribed by Bateman using numerical Chao tones (usually used with East Asian languages): two level tones (low and high), two rising tones (low rising and high rising), three falling tones (high-low, high-mid, and mid-low), and one falling-rising tone. Phonetically, these are:[3]

• high (44)
• mid (33)
• high-rising (45)
• low-rising (23)
• high-to-low-falling (42)
• high-to-mid-falling (43)
• mid-to-low-falling (32)
• falling-rising (423)

A sequence of two tones (called a tone cluster) may occur on one syllable. There are eleven tone clusters that can occur on verbs to mark aspect; only three of these can occur on nouns.

Some minimal sets in Iau illustrating phonemic tonal contrasts:[3]

Tone is only lexical on nouns; the lexical forms of verbs are unmarked for tone, and each tone represents a different aspect. The complex system of aspectual marking via tone is discussed in Bateman (1986).

Iau also displays complex tonal verb morphology. Verbal roots do not have any inherent tone, but tone is used to mark aspect on verbs. Example paradigms:[3]

Tone	Aspect	ba ‘come’	tai ‘moving s.t. toward’	da ‘locate s.t. inside’
tone 44	totality of action, punctual	ba⁴⁴ ‘came’	tai⁴⁴ ‘pulled’	da⁴⁴ ‘ate, put it in (stomach)’
tone 33	resultative durative	ba³³ ‘has come’	tai³³ ‘has been pulled off’	da³³ ‘has been loaded onto s.t.’
tone 45	totality of action, incomplete	ba⁴⁵ ‘might come’	tai⁴⁵ ‘might pull’
tone 23	resultative punctual	ba²³ ‘came to get’	tai²³ ‘land on s.t.’	da²³ ‘dip into water, wash s.t.’
tone 42	telic punctual	ba⁴² ‘came to end’	tai⁴² ‘fell to ground’	da⁴² ‘eaten it all up’
tone 43	telic, incomplete	ba⁴³ ‘still coming’	tai⁴³ ‘still falling’	da⁴³ ‘still eating it up’
tone 32	totality of action, durative	ba³² ‘be coming’	tai³² ‘be pulling’
tone 423	telic durative	ba⁴²³ ‘sticking to’	tai⁴²³ ‘be falling’
			tai⁴⁵–³² ‘pull on s.t., shake hands’
			tai⁴⁵–³³ ‘have pulled s.t., shook hands’

Tonal alternations can also serve as final mood and speech act particles.[3]

• tone 44: speaker assumes the information is correct (such as rhetorical questions)
• tone 32: speaker asks a question to confirm what he believes is true (such as yes-no questions)
• tone 43: speaker is uncertain about the actual state of affairs

Example sentences:[4]

(1)

a⁴³	ty⁴⁵	bi⁴⁵e⁴⁴	a⁴⁵se⁴⁴	u²³	di⁴⁴	be⁴⁴?
father	people	PN	SEQ	before	kill.TOTAL.PUNCT	Q.FACT

‘So the people from Bie killed father first?’

(2)

fv⁴⁵	ba⁴⁵	ba³²?
canoe	come.TOTAL.INCOMPL	Q.CONFIRM

‘Is the plane coming?’

(3)

da⁴⁴	a⁴²³	tv⁴⁴	be⁴³?
2.PL	land	travel.TOTAL.PUNCT	Q.GUESS

‘(I’m guessing) did you (pl) go by land?’