The Huon Gulf languages are Western Oceanic languages spoken primarily in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. They may form a group of the North New Guinea languages, perhaps within the Ngero–Vitiaz branch of that family.[citation needed]
| Huon Gulf | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Papua New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Austronesian
|
| Proto-language | Proto-Huon Gulf |
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | huon1245 |
Unusually for Oceanic languages, two North Huon Gulf languages, Bukawa and Yabem, are tonal. The only other tonal Oceanic languages are found in New Caledonia.
Classification
According to Lynch, Ross, & Crowley (2002), the structure of the family is as follows:
- North Huon Gulf linkage
- Markham family
- South Huon Gulf linkage
- Numbami
Proto-language
| Proto-Huon Gulf | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of | Huon Gulf languages |
Reconstructed ancestors | Proto-Austronesian
|
| Lower-order reconstructions |
|
Proto-Huon Gulf was reconstructed by Malcolm Ross in 1988 in Proto-Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia. It is reconstructed on the basis of shared phonological, morphosyntactic and lexicosemantic innovations relative to Proto-Oceanic, such as the pervasive lenition of Proto-Oceanic *p to *v, the acquisition of a final *-c in some words, the idiosyncratic change of Proto-Oceanic *boRok 'pig' to Proto-Huon Gulf *boR, and the loss of all verb-deriving prefixes such as *pa- 'causative', *paRi- 'reciprocal', *ma- 'stative', and *ta- 'intransitive'.
Vowels
The vowels of Proto-Huon Gulf, according to Ross, are:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | *i | *u | |
| Close-mid | *e | *o | |
| Open | *a |
Consonants
The consonants of Proto-Huon Gulf, according to Ross, are:
Consonants Labiovelar Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Stop voiced *b *d *ɟ *g voiceless *p *t *c *k Nasal *mʷ *m *n *ɲ *ŋ Fricative *v *s *ɣ Approximant *w *l, *r *j *ʀ
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