Akoye language

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.

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

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.

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

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

References

Further reading

Uses material from the Wikipedia article Akoye language, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.