Rao language

Rao is a Ramu language of western Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. In older literature it was called Annaberg.

Rao
Rao Breri
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	western Madang Province
Native speakers	(6,000 cited 1992)[1]
Language family	Ramu Ramu proper Annaberg Rao
Dialects	Li’o Ndramini’o
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rao
Glottolog	raoo1244
ELP	Rao

Phonology

Consonants^[2]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d	tʃ dʒ	k g	ʔ
Prenasalized	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑg
Fricative	f v	s z			(h)
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Approximant	w	r	j

• /w/ is often heard as [β] word-initially and intervocalically.
• /f/ has only been found word-initially.
• /h/ is very rare and may be an allophone of /g/.
• /r/ can also be realised as [l].

Vowels^[2]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low		a

Additionally, the following diphthongs have been observed: /ia/, /ai/, /ea/.

Stress falls on the first syllable with a /ʔ/ in coda position. Otherwise, stress is fixed on the first syllable.^[2]