Mwakai language

Not to be confused with Mongolian language.

Mongol, also known as Mwakai, is a Keram language of Papua New Guinea. Despite the name, it is not related to Mongolian, which is spoken in East Asia.

Mongol
Mwakai
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	East Sepik Province
Native speakers	340 (2003)[1]
Language family	Ramu–Keram Keram Mongol–Langam Mongol
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mgt
Glottolog	mong1344
ELP	Mongol-Kaimba
Coordinates: 4.262293°S 143.917638°E / -4.262293; 143.917638 (Mongol)

It is spoken in Mongol village (4.262293°S 143.917638°E / -4.262293; 143.917638 (Mongol)), Keram Rural LLG, East Sepik Province.^[2][3]

Phonology

Mwakai has 12 consonants and six vowels, shown in the tables below. This section follows Barlow (2020).^[4]

Mwakai consonants

		Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar
Obstruent	voiceless	/p/		/s/	/k/
	voiced	/ᵐb/	/ⁿd/	/ⁿd͡ʒ/	/ᵑɡ/
Nasal	voiced	/m/	/n/
Sonorant	voiced	/w/	/r/	/j/

The sound [t] only occurs in borrowings, with earlier */t/ having historically become /r/; this is belied by the realisation of word-final /r/ as [t~r~l]. /s/ patterns as a palatal consonant, with the optional allophone [ʃ]; there is some interplay between the sounds /s/ and /ⁿd͡ʒ/ in casual speech, with the contrast sometimes being neutralised in favour or either realisation. [ɲ] is a marginal phone which appears in borrowings and occasional as a realisation of /n/ before /i/. /r/ varies between [r ~ ɾ ~ l] and /p/ is occasionally realised as [ɸ].

/w/ and /j/ have a limited distribution, appearing mostly word-initially or -finally, and only rarely intervocalically. Some instances of /j/ and most instances of /w/ may be merely epenthetic, suggesting that Mwakai is in the process of losing its glide phonemes.

Mwakai vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/		/u/
Mid	/e/	/ə/	/o/
Open		/a/

/i u e/ are rarely realised as their cardinal qualities and may approach [ɨ~ɪ ɨ~ʊ ɛ~ə] especially when unstressed.