Central Asmat language explained

Central Asmat
States:	Indonesia
Region:	Asmat Regency, South Papua
Ethnicity:	Asmat people
Speakers:	7,000
Date:	1972
Ref:	e18
Speakers2:	2,000 Yaosakor (1991), perhaps counted above
Familycolor:	Papuan
Fam1:	Trans–New Guinea
Fam2:	Asmat–Kamoro
Fam3:	Asmat
Iso3:	cns
Lc1:	asy
Ld1:	Yaosakor Asmat
Glotto:	cent2247
Glottorefname:	Central-Yaosakor Asmat

Central Asmat is a Papuan language of West New Guinea, spoken by the Asmat people.

Dialects

Central Asmat has a number of dialects, which are:^[1]

• Keenok
• Sokoni
• Keenakap
• Kawenak (subdialects: Simai, Kainak, Mismam, Mecemup)

Yaosakor Asmat, assigned its own ISO code, is a variety of Central Asmat, not a distinct language.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Plosive	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Fricative	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Rhotic		pronounced as /link/
Approximant	pronounced as /link/

• /p/ can be heard as a fricative pronounced as /link/ when in intervocalic positions, as pronounced as /link/ in the speech of older speakers when preceding /e/.
• /tʃ/ can be heard as a palatalized pronounced as /link/ when in word-final positions following /i/.
• /k/ can be heard as a fricative pronounced as /link/ when following a vowel and preceding a consonant.
• /s/ can be heard as fricatives pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/ among some older speakers.
• /r/ can be heard as a flap pronounced as /link/ in word-medial and word-final positions.
• /ʝ/ can be heard as pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/ in word-initial positions.
• Nasals /m, n/ may fluctuate to voiced stops [{{IPA link|b}}, {{IPA link|d}}] in word-initial positions, and as prenasal stops [{{IPA link|ᵐb}}, {{IPA link|ⁿd}}] when in syllable-initial positions.^[2]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Mid	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Low		pronounced as /link/

Phoneme	Allophones
/i/	pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/
/e/	pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/
/a/	pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/
/o/	pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/
/u/	pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/

Notes and References

1. The Asmat-Muli Languages of Southwestern New Guinea . Language & Linguistics in Melanesia . 38 . 2020 . 0023-1959 . Edgar . Suter . Timothy . Usher . Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea . Port Moresby.
2. Book: Voorhoeve, Clemens L. . The Flamingo Bay Dialect of the Asmat Language . The Hague: M.Nijhoff . 1965.