Waropen language
Austronesian language
Waropen (Wonti) is an Austronesian language spoken at the Cendrawasih Bay of Papua, Indonesia. It is a primary branch of the South Halmahera-West New Guinea languages.
Dialects are Ambumi, Napan, Mo'or (Moor), and Waropen Kai.
01Phonology
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ʔ | |
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | |||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
| Fricative | f | s | ɣ | (h) | ||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||
/w/ can also be heard as a fricative [β].
/h/ may also exist phonemically in other dialects.
Sounds /w, j/ can be heard as vowels [ʊ, ɪ] when after vowel sounds.
/ɛ/ may be pronounced as [ɛ] or [e].
02Distribution
In Papua province, it is spoken in Mamberamo Raya Regency and Waropen Regency. The Ambumi dialect, also called Waruri, mainly spoken in Ambumi village in Wondama Bay Regency, West Papua. Waropen is also spoken southwest to the Rombak River mouth.
Among the Ambumi dialect, there are two groups of speech areas, namely in Nabire Regency, including the villages of Napan (considered a separate dialect), Weinami, Masipawe, Makimi, Moor (separate dialect), Mambor, and Ambumi. In addition, there is a speech group that enters the Manokwari Regency, inhabits the villages of Yendeman, Saybes, War, Kayob, and Menarbu. Meanwhile, Waropen Kai dialect speakers inhabit the villages of Semanui, Wapoga, Desawa, Waren, and the villages of Paradoi, Sanggei, Mambui, and Nubuai, which are combined in several settlement, namely Urei Faisei, Risei Sayati, Wonti, Bokaro, and Koweda.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Waropen language”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Waropen language and ethnic distribution.svg by 777Veo, CC0
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