Mwakai 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°15′44″S 143°55′03″E / 4.262293°S 143.917638°E / -4.262293; 143.917638 (Mongol)), Keram Rural LLG, East Sepik Province.

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

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.

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

• Barlow, Russell (2020). Notes on Mwakai, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 38: 37-99.ISSN 0023-1959