Iduna language

Phonology

Consonants

The inventory of the Iduna language consists of 14 consonant phonemes.[2]

Bilabial Labio-
dental		 Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
Plain Lab.
Stops Voiceless tkʔ
Voiced bdg
Fricatives Voiceless f
Voiced v
Nasals mn
Approximants jwh
Lateral l

Voiced plosives generally contrast with their unvoiced counterparts, except for the bilabial series, where /b/ varies freely between [b] and [p]. Moreover, the phoneme /g/ is commonly realized as [g], though for some speakers it may be pronounced as a voiced fricative [ɣ] without contrast. Finally, /t/ has also two allophonic realizations: [t] occurs word initially and word medially before non-front vowels /a/, /o/ or /u/, whereas [s] only appears before front vowels /i/ or /e/.[3] Other minor allophonic realizations may occur. Among these variations only the last one is reflected in the orthography.

PhonemeAllophonesContext
/b/[b ~ p], [bʷ]free variant; [bʷ] before non-syllabic /u/
/f/[f], [fʷ]Normally [f]; [fʷ] before non-syllabic /u/
/k/[k], [kʷ]Normally [k]; [kʷ] before non-syllabic /u/
/g/[g ~ ɣ], [gʷ]free variant; [gʷ] before non-syllabic /u/
/t/[t], [s][s] before /i/ and /e/; [t] elsewhere
/d/[d], [tʰ][tʰ] before /i/ in final syllable position only; [d] elsewhere
/m/[m], [mʷ]Normally [m]; [mʷ] before non-syllabic /u/

Vowels

There are 5 vowel phonemes in Iduna.[2]

FrontCentralBack
High iu
Mid ɛɔ
Low a

Vowels have allophones too. The major allophonic variations are described in the following table. These include the double realization of /a/, which corresponds to [a] when found in stressed syllables, while it approximates [ʌ] in unstressed environments, and the nasal allophonic variant of /u/.[4]

PhonemeAllophoneContext
/a/[a], [ʌ][a] in stressed syllable; [ʌ] elsewhere
/u/[u], [ũ][ũ] following /m/; [u] elsewhere

The language also has 4 monomoraic diphthongs: /ai/, /au/, /ao/ and /oi/. These are distinguished from vowel sequences, which instead are bimoraic, e.g. the word giyauna [gi.jau.nʌ] "he scrapes it" contrasts with giyauna [gi.ja.u.nʌ] "he unties it".[5]

Phonotactics

In Iduna consonant clusters are forbidden, therefore there are only open syllables of type V, CV and CVV. Also, the special kind of sequence CuV is generally interpreted as CʷV.

Writing system

The Iduna alphabet is shown in the following table:[6]

A aB bD dE eF fG gH hI iL l
[a][b][d][ɛ][f][g][h][i][l]
M mO oS sT tU uV vW wY yʼ
[m][ɔ][s][t][u][v][w][j][ʔ]

Notes
  1. Iduna at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Sampson and Huckett (1965), pp. 3-4.
  3. Sampson and Huckett (1965), pp. 10-13.
  4. Sampson and Huckett (1965), pp. 20-21.
  5. Sampson and Huckett (1965), pp. 7-8.
  6. Sampson and Huckett (1965), p. 30.

References
  • Sampson, Nancy; Huckett, Joyce (1965). Vivigani Phonemes (PDF) (draft). Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  • Huckett, Joyce (1974). "Notes on Iduna Grammar" (PDF). In Healey, Alan (ed.). Three studies in languages of eastern Papua. Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages 3. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). pp. 63–133. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  • Huckett, Joyce (1976). "Iduna Sentence Structure" (PDF). In Loving, Richard (ed.). Grammatical studies in Suena and Iduna. Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages 15. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). pp. 127–262. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  • Huckett, Joyce (n.d.). Vivigani language lessons (PDF) (draft). Papua New Guinea: Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). Retrieved February 21, 2019.


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