| Aghu | |
| Also Known As: | Central Awyu |
| Speakers: | <14,000 |
| Date: | 1987–2002 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Trans–New Guinea |
| Fam2: | Greater Awyu |
| Fam3: | Awyu–Dumut |
| Fam4: | Awyu |
| Lc1: | ahh |
| Ld1: | Aghu |
| Lc2: | awu |
| Ld2: | Central Awyu |
| Dia1: | Aghu |
| Dia2: | Nohon |
| Glotto: | mapp1234 |
| Glottorefname: | MappiDigul Awyu |
Aghu, or Central Awyu, is a Papuan language of South Papua, Indonesia. It may actually be two languages, depending on one's criteria for a 'language'. The two varieties are: Mappi River Awyu (Aghu) and Pasue River Awyu (Nohon, Mitak).[1]
The phonology of the Aghu language:[2]
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Close | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||||
The front rounded vowel /y/ is unusual among local languages in Indonesia. At the ends of words, vowels may appear both long and nasalized. This occurs historically where there was a final nasal /m/ or /n/. Within words, rather than nasal vowels there are sequences of vowel plus nasal consonant which matches the articulation of the following consonant. Thus nasal vowels may be analyzed as /Vn/ or /VN/.