| Gumawana | |
| Also Known As: | Gumasi |
| States: | Papua New Guinea |
| Region: | Amphlett Islands, Milne Bay Province |
| Speakers: | 470 |
| Date: | 2000 census |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | Oceanic |
| Fam4: | Western Oceanic |
| Fam5: | Papuan Tip |
| Fam6: | Nuclear Papuan Tip |
| Fam7: | North Papuan Mainland – D'Entrecasteaux |
| Iso3: | gvs |
| Glotto: | guma1254 |
| Glottorefname: | Gumawana |
Gumawana (sometimes also referred to by the exonym Gumasi) is an Austronesian language spoken by people living on the Amphlett Islands of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.
Gumawana is an Austronesian language of the North Papuan Mainland-D'Entrecasteaux branch.
Gumawana is spoken by some 470 people in the small Amphlett Islands of Papua New Guinea's Milne Bay Province. The language is spoken on the four inhabited islands of the archipelago: Nubogeta, Gumawana, Omea, and Bituma.[1] Gumawama has been influenced by the nearby Dobu language, and speakers of Gumawana often have knowledge of other neighboring Papuan Tip languages.
Gumawana had three dialects: Nubogeta, Omea, and Bituma. The last speaker of the Omea dialect died in April 1988. The Bituma dialect is very different from the Nubogeta dialect of Nubogeta and Gumawana islands in both syntax and lexicon.
Gumawana has 11 consonant phonemes and 5 vowel phonemes.
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ |
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ |
Clauses in Gumawana have a basic order of SOV. Oblique noun phrases occur between the direct object and the verb.