Orokaiva language

Orokaiva is a Papuan language spoken in the "tail" of Papua New Guinea.

Orokaiva
Orokaivic
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Oro Province
Ethnicity	Orokaiva
Native speakers	(47,000 cited 2000 census – 2007)[1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Binanderean Orokaiva
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: okv – Orokaiva hkk – Hunjara aez – Aeka
Glottolog	orok1268
IETF	okv[2]

Varieties

Orokaiva is spoken in 200 villages around Popondetta in Oro Province.

Hunjara is spoken in Kokoda Rural LLG of Oro Province.

Aeka is spoken in Tamata Rural LLG of Oro Province.^[1]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	k
	voiced	b	d	ɡ
Affricate			d͡z
Fricative			s		h

• Voiced stops /b, d, ɡ/ may fluctuate to prenasalized stop sounds [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ] in word-initial position. The prenasalized stop sounds are also heard among the voiced stops when in post-nasal sequences.

• /b/ can be heard as [β] in intervocalic positions, and may also be heard as a voiced bilabial rounded fricative [β̹] when before /a/ in intervocalic positions..
• /d/ may occur as flap sounds [ɾ, ɽ, ɺ] in free fluctuation in word-medial positions, except when after a nasal sound.
• /d͡z/ may have fluctuating allophones of [d͡ʒ, ʒ] occurring in syllable-initial positions.
• Word-final nasal sounds /-n, -ŋ/ when after a vowel, may result in vowel nasalization [Ṽ].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

• Sounds [i, u, a] can have allophones [ɪ, ʊ, ʌ].