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Enga Language

This document provides an organized phonology data for the Enga language spoken in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. It belongs to the Trans New Guinea phylum and the West-Central Engan family. The document includes: - Phonemic and orthographic inventory of the Enga consonants and vowels - Syllable patterns and tonal conventions - Phonological and orthographic conventions - A transcription of a recorded Enga passage as an example - Bibliography of linguistic work done on the Enga language

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2K views3 pages

Enga Language

This document provides an organized phonology data for the Enga language spoken in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. It belongs to the Trans New Guinea phylum and the West-Central Engan family. The document includes: - Phonemic and orthographic inventory of the Enga consonants and vowels - Syllable patterns and tonal conventions - Phonological and orthographic conventions - A transcription of a recorded Enga passage as an example - Bibliography of linguistic work done on the Enga language

Uploaded by

owenpatiliu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Organised Phonology Data: Provides an overview of the Enga language, including demographic information and a phonemic inventory.
  • Vowels and Suprasegmentals: Details the vowel sounds and suprasegmentals like tone, stress, and length for the Enga language.
  • Conventions and Transcription: Explains orthographic and phonological conventions used in transcriptions, including an example passage.

Organised Phonology Data

Enga Language [ENQ]


Enga Province
Trans New Guinea Phylum; East New Guinea Highlands Stock; West-Central (Engan) Family; Enga
Subfamily
Population census: 110,000 (1981)
Major villages: Luth.
Linguistic work done by:
Data checked by:

Phonemic and Orthographic Inventory

a
A

p
b,mb
B

d
d,nd e
D

e
e
E

g,ng i
G

i
I
I

dz k
j,nj k
J K

l
L

m n
ly m n
Ly M N

o
ny fl o
Ny O

p
p
P

s
s
S

t
t
T

u
u
U

w j
w y
W Y

Consonants
Bilab

LabDen Dental

Alveo

Plosive

Nasal

Postalv

Retro

Palatal

Velar

Uvular

Trill

Tap/Flap

Fricative
Lateral
Fricative
Approx

Lateral
Approx

Ejective
Stop
Implos

/b/

voiced prenasalized bilabial plosive

/d/

voiced prenasalized alveolar plosive

//

voiced prenasalised velar plosive

/dz/

voiced prenasalised affricate

/w/

voiced labial-velar approximant

paangi
apa

'thight'
'father'

b baak
mb

'alone'
'only one'

Pharyn

Glottal

Enga OPD

Printed: August 20, 2004

Page 2

m ma
m

'taro'
'over there'

sil
ms

'like'
'banana'

walak
awa

'arrow'
'sugar cane'

kalpu
akitpa

'peanuts'
'how many'

tna
lti

'snare'
'grass spec.'

glu
angitki

'spider'
'alike'

d dn
lund

'down there'
'pig grease'

flfla
palfla

'baby'
'plank'

'tree spec.'
'dirt'

nyakma
apiny

'you plur., they'


'those'

dz jing
konja

'fruit,nut'
'jam'

yla
ky

'shame'
'bird'

'rain'
'ear'

lyka
klya

'tree spec.'
'handsome'

nka
kun

laka
kal

Vowels
i

t
kgi
lyndi
gi

'tree, wood'
'hand, arm'
'bird spec.'
'time'

ulumba
kt
lpu
uan

'bird spec.'
'grass skirt'
'leaf'
'fater-in-law'

da
nel
kek
poeeg

'woman'
'insect spec.'
'tongue'
'washes'

okylo
kne
ngo
ko

'frog'
'red'
'the,that'
'bad, evil'

pu
sk
mba
kaing

'rain'
'green'
'tree oil'
'light'

Suprasegmentals (tone, stress, length)


Tone is phonemic.
mb ping 'to scatter'

ambno 'bean'

te 'pig exchange'

amb ping 'to be ashamed'

amban 'cordyline'

te 'ant'

Enga OPD

Printed: August 20, 2004

Page 3

Syllable Patterns
V

.a 'gourd'

ku..ka 'yesterday'

[Link].a 'swamp'

CV

da. 'here'

[Link] 'insect'

[Link] 'empty'

Conventions: Phonological
/k/ as a rule is fricativized between low and back vowels.
/t/ is often pronounced [r] intervocalically.
/s/ is pronounced [ts] word initially.
All final vowels are devoiced.

Conventions: Orthographic
The words marked with a high tone mark < > on their first syllable are tonetically [ ], those with a tone mark
on the final syllable only [ ], and those with a tone mark on the last two syllables [ ].
Prenasalized phonemes [b d dz] are written <b d g dz > word initially and < mb nd ng nj > word
medially.
<ly > and <ny> are digraphs for one sound, but <py>, <ky>,<my>,<ty>, < pw>, <kw> etc. are interpreted as
consonant plus vowel, the vowel being a non-syllabic [i] or [u].

Transcription of a recorded passage


< Aklimipi ndamepi wanmepi dpame men dko. Men dko andkele. Nambapi nambany kaiminngipi
nima men lng minngima.>

The man and the woman and the boy are hitting the pig. That pig is somewhat large. My brothers and I own a
lot of pigs.

Bibliography
Lang, Adrianne. 1975. 'The semantics of classificatory verbs in Enga.' Pacific Linguistics B 39.
___. 1973. 'Enga dictionary with English Index.' Pacific Linguistics C 20.
Lang, Ranier. 1973. 'Grammatical Sketch.' In [Link] 1973.
Larson, James. 1967. 'Enga language speaking manual.' 2 vols. NGLM-manuscript.
Laycock, D.C. n.d. 'Notes on Enga suprasegmental phonemes.' Manuscript.

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