Mundugumor language

Mundugumor (Munduguma, Mundukomo) a.k.a. Biwat is a Yuat language of Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in Biwat village (4.415234°S 143.859962°E / -4.415234; 143.859962 (Biwat)) of Yuat Rural LLG, East Sepik Province.^[1][2]

Mundugumor
Biwat
Region	East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Ethnicity	Mundugumor people
Native speakers	3,000 (2003)[1]
Language family	Yuat Mundugumor
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bwm
Glottolog	biwa1243
ELP	Biwat
Coordinates: 4.415234°S 143.859962°E / -4.415234; 143.859962 (Biwat)

Phonology

Mundukumo consonants are:^[3]

p	t		k
ᵐb	ⁿd	ᶮʤ	ᵑg
m	n	ɲ	ŋ
f	s
ᵐv
	r
w		j

Mundukumo vowels are:^[3]

i		u
e	ə	o
	a

Nouns

Some examples showing Mundukomo nouns and their irregular plural forms:^[3]: 228

gloss	singular	plural
‘snake’	mas	mase
‘tooth’	adusuva	adusuvavi
‘bone’	avu	avuvavi
‘nose’	ŋlək	ŋlu
‘thigh’	guak	go
‘hand’	klik	klia
‘dog’	ken	kidu
‘betelnut’	siman	simadu
‘ear’	tuan	tuadu
‘fire’	mən	məda
‘basket’	ban	bada
‘mouth’	balaŋ	balaji
‘house’	klaŋ	klagi
‘star’	susuaŋ	susuagi
‘water’	mam	mabi
‘neck’	volam	volabi
‘ball’	muŋmam	muŋmabi
‘cassowary’	kalim	kalimu
‘girl’	analom	analomu
‘paddle’	dum	dumu

Similar patterns of complex nominal plural allomorphy are also found in the Lower Sepik-Ramu languages.^[3]: 228

External links

• Paradisec has a collection of recordings of Biwat language. They also have a collection of recordings from Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Pacific from Don Laycock that includes Biwat materials.

Further reading

• McDowell, Nancy. 1991. The Mundugumor: From the Fieldnotes of Margaret Mead and Reo Fortune. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
• McElvenny, James. 2007. Notes on Mundukumo. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney.