Golin language

Golin (also Gollum, Gumine) is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea.

Diphthongs that occur are /ɑi ɑu ɔi ui/. The consonants /l n/ can also be syllabic.

/bʷ ɡʷ/ are treated as single consonants by Bunn & Bunn (1970), but as combinations of /b/ + /w/, /ɡ/ + /w/ by Evans et al. (2005).

Two consonants appear to allow free variation in their realisations: [s] varies with [ʃ], and [l] with [ɬ].

/n/ assimilates to [ŋ] before /k/ and /ɡ/.

Golin is a tonal language, distinguishing high ([˧˥]), mid ([˨˧]), and low ([˨˩]) tone. The high tone is marked by an acute accent and the low tone by a grave accent, while the mid tone is left unmarked. Examples:

• High: mú [mu˧˥] 'type of snake'; wí [wi˧˥] 'scream (man)'
• Mid: mu [mu˨˧] 'type of bamboo'; wi [wi˨˧] 'coming from the same ethnic group'
• Low: mù [mu˨˩] 'sound of river'; wì [wi˨˩] 'cut (verb)'

Golin is notable for having a small pronominal paradigm. There are two basic pronouns:

• ná first person
• í second person

There is no number distinction and no true third person pronoun. Third person pronouns in Golin are in fact compounds derived from 'man' plus inín 'self':

• yalíni 'he' < yál 'man' + inín 'self'
• abalíni 'she' < abál 'woman' + inín 'self'

• Bunn, Gordon (1974). "Golin grammar". Working Papers in New Guinea Linguistics. 5.