Yagwoia language

Yagwoia (Yeghuye), or Kokwaiyakwa, is an Angan language of Papua New Guinea. Dialects are named after the five ethnicities, Iwalaqamalje, Hiqwaye, Hiqwase, Gwase, Heqwangilye (Yeqwangilje dialect).

Yagwoia
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Gulf provinces
Native speakers	10,000 (2005)[1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Angan Yagwoia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ygw
Glottolog	yagw1240

Distribution

Yagwoia is spoken in:^[1]

• Eastern Highlands Province: Iqwalaqamalje
• Gulf Province: Gwase
• Morobe Province: Hiqwase, Hiqwaye, and Yeqwangilje

Phonology

Consonants^[2]

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Plosive	p	t	k	q	ʔ ⟨'⟩
Fricative		s			h
Nasal	m	n	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Approximant	w	l	j ⟨y⟩

• /p t k/ tend to become voiced [b d g] in clusters with nasals or /l/.
• /m n ŋ l/ can be syllabic.
• /s/ is in free variation with [z]. Older speakers tend to pronounce it as [ts~dz].
• /t/ can often be heard as [r].

Vowels^[2]

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

• /ɨ/ is rare.

Additionally, the following diphthongs have been observed: /ei/, /ai/, /ae/, /au/, /ou/.

Yagwoia is tonal, distinguishing high and low tone. However, tone has a low functional load, and so remains unwritten.^[2]