Sop language explained

Sop
Nativename:Sob
States:Papua New Guinea
Region:Madang Province
Date:2003
Ref:e18
Familycolor:Papuan
Fam1:Trans–New Guinea
Fam2:Madang
Fam3:Rai Coast
Fam4:Peka
Iso3:urw
Glotto:sopp1247
Glottorefname:Sop
Notice:IPA

Sop (also Sob, Usino) is a Rai Coast language spoken in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea by approximately 2,500 people.

The Sob language has been labelled under several different names. Among the names are Usino, Usina, Sopu, and Igoi. Usino is the name of one of the villages and the name used for the government station. The speakers of this language do not recognize the name Usino as a name for their language, but use the endonym Sob.

Phonology

Consonants

LabialApicalPalatalVelar
Plosivepronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Fricativepronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Nasalpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Approximantpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Flappronounced as /link/

Vowels

FrontBack
Highpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ <ü> pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Lowpronounced as /link/

Syllabification

The canonical syllable profile of Sob is (C)V(C). Thus, vowels are required to have a nuclear vowel, and may optionally have an onset and/or coda. The overwhelming majority of syllables have an onset in Sob, forming the unmarked CV shape. Complex onsets and complex codas are disallowed for markedness.

Syllable types in Sob
Single Syllable
  1. __$
$__$ $__#
V e 'or' e.ge 'eye' keb fu.gi.a.ga 'light from fire' fi.o 'fog'
CV mi 'louse' ta.ba 'head' u.di.ge 'sand' su.be 'mouth'
CVC nur 'nose' keb kaj 'water snake' a.büs.kaj 'old woman' si.bim 'stomach'
VC am 'what' ag.fe.re.a.ga 'he leads' gi.tu.ar 'dusk'

Personal pronouns

SingularPlural
1styesini (exclusive); sige (inclusive)
2ndnagnini; ninag
3rdnunini

External links