Mwakai language explained

Mwakai language should not be confused with Mongolian language.

Mongol, also known as Mwakai, is a Keram language of Papua New Guinea. Despite the name, it is not related to Mongolian, which is spoken in East Asia.

It is spoken in Mongol village (-4.2623°N 143.9176°W), Keram Rural LLG, East Sepik Province.^{[1] [2]}

Phonology

Mwakai has 12 consonants and six vowels, shown in the tables below. This section follows Barlow (2020).^[3]

Mwakai consonants!!!Labial!Coronal!Palatal!Velar

Obstruent	voiceless	/p/		/s/	/k/
	voiced	/ᵐb/	/ⁿd/	/ⁿd͡ʒ/	/ᵑɡ/
Nasal	voiced	/m/	/n/
Sonorant	voiced	/w/	/r/	/j/

The sound [t] only occurs in borrowings, with earlier */t/ having historically become /r/; this is belied by the realisation of word-final /r/ as [t~r~l]. /s/ patterns as a palatal consonant, with the optional allophone [ʃ]; there is some interplay between the sounds /s/ and /ⁿd͡ʒ/ in casual speech, with the contrast sometimes being neutralised in favour or either realisation. [ɲ] is a marginal phone which appears in borrowings and occasional as a realisation of /n/ before /i/. /r/ varies between [r ~ ɾ ~ l] and /p/ is occasionally realised as [ɸ].

/w/ and /j/ have a limited distribution, appearing mostly word-initially or -finally, and only rarely intervocalically. Some instances of /j/ and most instances of /w/ may be merely epenthetic, suggesting that Mwakai is in the process of losing its glide phonemes.

Mwakai vowels!!Front!Central!Back

Close	/i/		/u/
Mid	/e/	/ə/	/o/
Open		/a/

/i u e/ are rarely realised as their cardinal qualities and may approach [ɨ~ɪ ɨ~ʊ ɛ~ə] especially when unstressed.

Further reading

• Barlow, Russell (2020). Notes on Mwakai, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 38: 37-99.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Papua New Guinea languages . Ethnologue

   Languages of the World

   . 22nd . Eberhard . David M. . Simons . Gary F. . Fennig . Charles D. . 2019 . Dallas . SIL International.
2. Web site: Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup . United Nations in Papua New Guinea . Humanitarian Data Exchange . 1.31.9 . 2018.
3. Barlow . Russel . 2020 . Notes on Mwakai, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea . Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea . 38.