Akoye
Lohiki
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionMorobe Province
Native speakers
600 (2001)[1]
Trans–New Guinea
  • Angan
    • Southwest
      • Akoye–Tainae
        • Akoye
Language codes
ISO 639-3miw
Glottologakoy1238
ELPAkoye

Akoye, also known as Lohiki or Maihiri (Mai-Hea-Ri), is an Angan language of Papua New Guinea.

Phonology

Akoye has a small phonemic inventory, which is not well described.[2]

Consonants are /p t k, f s, m n, w/ and maybe /j/.[3] The first four are usually voiced to [b ɾ ɡ v] after a monophthongal vowel, though sometimes the voicing is blocked for unknown reasons.

Consonants[2]
Labial Alveolar Velar
Nasal m n
Plosive p t k
Fricative f s
Approximant w

Vowels are /i e ə ɑ o u/. Diphthongs (/ɑi, əi, oi, ɑu/) are said to be rare, though vowel sequences are common, so these are perhaps not equivalent.[4]

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open ɑ

The most complex syllable is CCVV: /mtəəpə/ 'hair', /əəkwɑi/ 'eye'.

Tone plays a role: /ə̀ɡənə/ 'sky', /əɡə́nə/ 'lid'; /pɑɑ́/ (sp. bird), /pɑ̀ɑ/ 'body'.

References

  1. Akoye at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. 1 2 "Organised Phonology Data" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  3. /j/ is not given in the invertory, but is illustrated in the examples.
  4. Perhaps /aj/ vs. /ai/?

Further reading

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