| Language name: | ALAMBLAK |
| UPSID number: | 8634 |
| Alternate name(s): | |
| Classification: | Papuan, Sepik-Ramu |
| This language has | 25 segments |
| Its Frequency index is | 0.420842572 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments) |
| The language has these sounds: | ph th kh b d g tS dZ P x s S m n n_ j w i i_ u "e "@ "o rT a |
| Comment: | Alamblak is spoken along the Wagupmeri and Karawari rivers, E. Sepik province, Papua New Guinea. Palato-alveolar consonants often arise from blending of an alveolar + preceding or following /j/. Nonsibilant fricatives are voiced between voiced segments, except when a nasal precedes. An analysis of the vowel system as containing only 3 central vowels, with front and back variants conditioned by adjacent approximants /j/, /w/ is discussed by Bruce (1984). However there are several problems with this analysis, e.g. [i] from abstract high central vowel + /j/ would be expected to palatalize a following /t/ but doesn't. |
| Source(s): | Bruce, Les. 1984. The Alamblak Language of Papua New Guinea (East Sepik). Pacific Linguistics, series C no. 81. Australian National University, Canberra. |