Gimi language
In today's world, Gimi language has gained unprecedented importance. Whether from an economic, technological, social or cultural point of view, Gimi language is an issue that is constantly present in our lives. Its impact is so broad that its analysis and understanding is essential to understand the context in which we find ourselves. In this article, we will explore the different aspects and perspectives related to Gimi language, with the aim of shedding light on its relevance and influence in our society.
| Gimi | |
|---|---|
| Labogai | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Eastern Highlands Province |
Native speakers | (23,000 cited 2000)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | gim |
| Glottolog | gimi1243 |
Gimi, also known as Labogai, is a Papuan language spoken in the Eastern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea. 23,000 speakers (2000 cited) speak the Gimi language.
Phonology
Gimi has 5 vowels and 12 consonants.[2] It has voiceless and voiced glottal consonants where related languages have /k/ and /ɡ/. The voiceless glottal is simply a glottal stop . The voiced consonant behaves phonologically like a glottal stop, but does not have full closure. Phonetically it is a creaky-voiced glottal approximant .[3]
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Low | ɑ | |
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | ||
| Approximant | voiced | ˷ | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ||
| Tap/Flap | ɾ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | h | |
| voiced | z | |||
Allophony
/p/ occurs word initially only in loanwords.
/b/ can surface as either or in free variation.
/z/ becomes before /ɑ/.
/t/ and /ɾ/ tend to fluctuate with one another word initially.
Syllables
The syllable structure is (C)V(G), where G is either /ʔ/ or /˷/.
Tone
The final vowel of a word takes either a level or falling tone. The falling tone is written with an acute accent.
| ak "seed" | ák "armband" | ||
| nimi "bird" | nimí "louse" |
Orthography
Gimi uses the Latin script.[2]
| Letter | Aa | Bb | Dd | Ee | Gg | Hh | Ii | Kk | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp | Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Zz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | ɑ | b | d | e | ˷ (ʔ) |
h | i | ʔ (ʔː) |
m | n | o | p | ɾ | s | t | u | z |
References
- ^ Gimi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b Gimi Organised Phonology Data.
- ^ Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 77–78. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
