Mesem language

Mesem (Mesẽ) is a Papuan language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.

Mesem
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Huon Peninsula, Morobe Province
Native speakers	(4,000 cited 1997 census)[1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Finisterre–Huon Huon Western Huon Mesem
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mci
Glottolog	mese1244

Names

The alternate names for Mesem are Mese, Momalili, and Momolili.^[2]

Phonology

Consonants

The table below shows Mesem's consonantal phonemes:^[3]: 1

	Bilabial		Alveolar		Velar
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Plosive	p	b	t	d	k	ɡ
Fricative	s, z
Approximant	j
Lateral approximant	l

The language also has /w/, which is a voiced labio-velar fricative, not an approximant.^[3]: 1

Vowel

The table below shows Mesem's vowel phonemes:^[3]: 2

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ʉ	o
Open		a

Orthography

Mesem alphabet ^[4]

a

ã

b

d

e

ẽ

g

i

ĩ

k

l

m

n

ng

o

õ

p

s

t

u

ũ

ʉ

ʉ̃

w

y

z