| Mussau-Emira | |
| States: | Papua New Guinea |
| Region: | Islands of Mussau and Emirau (New Ireland Province) |
| Speakers: | 5,000 |
| Date: | 2003 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | Oceanic |
| Fam4: | St. Matthias |
| Map2: | Lang Status 60-DE.svg |
| Iso3: | emi |
| Glotto: | muss1246 |
| Glottorefname: | Mussau-Emira |
| Notice: | IPA |
The Mussau-Emira language is spoken on the islands of Mussau and Emirau in the St Matthias Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago.
Mussau-Emira distinguishes the following consonants.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Liquid | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ |
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Low | pronounced as /link/ |
In most words the primary stress falls on the penultimate vowel and secondary stresses fall on every second syllable preceding that. This is true of suffixed forms as well, as in níma 'hand', nimá-gi 'my hand'; níu 'coconut', niúna 'its coconut'.
| Person | Singular | Plural | Dual | Trial | Paucal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person inclusive | ita | italua | itatolu | itaata | |
| 1st person exclusive | agi | ami | aŋalua | aŋatolu | aŋaata |
| 2nd person | io | am | amalua | amatolu | amaata |
| 3rd person | ia | ila | ilalua | ilotolu | ilaata |
Prefixes mark the subjects of each verb: