Nengone language

Nengone is a language of the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia.

Nengone
RegionMaré Island, New Caledonia
Native speakers
8,700 (2009 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3nen
Glottologneng1238
Nengone is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Phonology

The phonological inventory of consonants is untypically large for an Oceanic language. Many sounds which are allophones in other sub-families are distinct phonemes in the Nengone language:[2]

Consonant sounds
Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t ʈ k ʔ
voiced b d ɖ ɡ
Affricate voiceless t͡ʃ
voiced d͡ʒ
Fricative voiceless (f) θ s ʃ (x) h
voiced z ɣ
Nasal voiceless m̥ n̥ ŋ̊
voiced m n ɲ ŋ
Rhotic r
Approximant voiceless w̥
voiced w ɭ j

Phonemes in parentheses only occur in words borrowed from other languages.[2]

Vowel sounds
Front Back
High iu
Mid eo
ɛɔ
Low a

Bibliography
  • Tryon, D.T. and Dubois, M.J. Nengone dictionary. Part I: Nengone-English. C-9, viii + 452 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1969. doi:10.15144/PL-C9
  • Tryon, D.T. and Dubois, M.J. Nengone dictionary. Part II: English-Nengone. C-23, iv + 205 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971. doi:10.15144/PL-C23

References
  1. Nengone at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Tryon, Darrell T. Nengone grammar. B-6, x + 101 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1967. doi:10.15144/PL-B6
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