Bwaidoka language

Bwaidoka is an Austronesian language spoken in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a local lingua franca.

Bwaidoka
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionMilne Bay Province (Goodenough Island, Fergusson Island)
Native speakers
6,500 (2000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3bwd
Glottologbwai1242

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Palatal Velar
plain lab. plain lab.
Plosive voiceless t k kʷ
voiced b bʷ ɡ
Fricative voiceless f fʷ s
voiced v
Nasal m mʷ n
Lateral l
Approximant j w
  • /t/ can be pronounced as alveolar [t], or dental [t̪] when preceding central or back vowels.
  • /ɡ/ can be pronounced as a voiced plosive [ɡ], or as a fricative [ɣ] on an unstressed syllable.
  • /j/ can be pronounced as either [j] or as [ð] in free variation.

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a
  • Vowel sounds /i, o, u/ do not occur following labialized consonants.
  • /e/ may fluctuate freely from [e] to [ə] in syllable-final, and with [ɛ] as the first vowel sound on stressed syllables.
  • /a/ may fluctuate freely from [a] to [ə] on unstressed syllables and as the second vowel sound on stressed syllables.
  • /o/ may fluctuate freely from [o] to [ɔ] on unstressed syllables and as the second vowel sound on stressed syllables.[2]

References
  1. Bwaidoka at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Gibson, Stan (1992). Bwaidoka organised phonology data. SIL.


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