| Hamtai | |
| Also Known As: | Hamday |
| Nativename: | Kapau |
| States: | Papua New Guinea |
| Region: | Morobe Province, Gulf Province |
| Speakers: | 45,000 |
| Date: | 1998 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Trans–New Guinea |
| Fam2: | Angan |
| Fam3: | Southeast |
| Dia1: | Wenta |
| Dia2: | Howi |
| Dia3: | Pmasa'a |
| Dia4: | Hamtai Proper |
| Dia5: | Kaintiba |
| Iso3: | hmt |
| Glotto: | hamt1247 |
| Glottorefname: | Hamtai |
Hamtai (also called Hamday or Kapau) is the most populous of the Angan languages of Papua New Guinea. It is also known as Kamea, Kapau, and Watut. Dialects are Wenta, Howi, Pmasa’a, Hamtai proper, and Kaintiba. The language was unwritten until 2009.[1]
In Hamtai, there are 14 consonants, 7 vowels, and two tones (rising and falling).
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i pronounced as /link/ | i pronounced as /link/ | u pronounced as /link/ | |
| Close-mid | e pronounced as /link/ | o pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Open-mid | ä, aa pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Open | a pronounced as /link/ |
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m pronounced as /link/ | n pronounced as /link/ | ng pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Plosive | p pronounced as /link/ | t pronounced as /link/ | k pronounced as /link/ | k̥/q pronounced as /link/ | ' pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Approximant | voiced | y pronounced as /link/ | w pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| unvoiced | wh pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiced | v pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| unvoiced | f pronounced as /link/ | h pronounced as /link/ | |||||