Suau language explained

Suau
Also Known As:	Iou
Region:	Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea
Speakers:	7,810
Date:	2000 census
Ref:	e25
Speakers2:	L2 speakers 13,000 (2021)
Familycolor:	Austronesian
Fam2:	Malayo-Polynesian
Fam3:	Oceanic
Fam4:	Western
Fam5:	Papuan Tip
Fam6:	Nuclear
Fam7:	Suauic
Iso3:	swp
Glotto:	suau1242
Glottorefname:	Suau

Suau, also known as Iou, is an Oceanic language spoken in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. It is spoken by 6,800 people and a further 14,000 as a lingua franca.

Phonology

!Labial!Alveolar!Velar!Glottal

Plosive	voiceless	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
	voiced	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Nasal		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Fricative		(pronounced as /link/)	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Lateral			pronounced as /link/
Glide		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/

• Some village dialects also include a fricative sound pronounced as /[f]/.^[1]
• pronounced as //l// can also be heard as a flap pronounced as /[ɾ]/ in free variation.
• pronounced as //w// may also rarely be pronounced as pronounced as /[v, β]/ among speakers.^[2]

Vowel sounds!!Front!Central!Back

High	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Low		pronounced as /link/

External links

• Ekalesia Bukana (1895), Anglican Morning Prayer in Suau, digitized by Richard Mammana
• Paradisec has a number of collections of Suau materials, including two collections of Arthur Cappell's (AC1, AC2).

Notes and References

1. Book: Cooper, Russell E.. Coastal Suau: A preliminary study of internal relationships. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.. 1975. 273.
2. Book: Ezard, Bryan. Suau Organised Phonology Data. Lithgow. David. SIL.