Aghu language - Wikipedia
- ️Fri Jul 19 2024
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Papuan language. For the Australian language, see Aghu Tharrnggala language.
| Aghu | |
|---|---|
| Central Awyu | |
| Region | South Papua, Indonesia |
Native speakers | (<14,000 cited 1987–2002)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:ahh – Aghuawu – Central Awyu |
| Glottolog | mapp1234 |
Aghu, or Central Awyu, is a Papuan language of South Papua, Indonesia. It may actually be two languages, depending on one's criteria for a 'language'. The two varieties are: Mappi River Awyu (Aghu) and Pasue River Awyu (Nohon, Mitak).[2]
The phonology of the Aghu language:[3]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
| voiced | b | d~ɾ | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | f | s~ʃ | x | ||
| Approximant | w | j |
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | y yː | u uː | |
| Mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | ||
| Open | a aː |
The front rounded vowel /y/ is unusual among local languages in Indonesia. At the ends of words, vowels may appear both long and nasalized. This occurs historically where there was a final nasal /m/ or /n/. Within words, rather than nasal vowels there are sequences of vowel plus nasal consonant which matches the articulation of the following consonant. Thus nasal vowels may be analyzed as /Vn/ or /VN/.
- Drabbe, P. (1957). Spraakkunst van het Aghu-dialect van de Awju-taal (in Dutch). Den Haag: M. Nijhoff.
- Voorhoeve, C. L. (1980) [1975]. Languages of Irian Jaya, Checklist: Preliminary Classification, Language Maps, Wordlists. Series B - No. 31. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 28, 98. hdl:1885/146481.