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Bunama is an
Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, M ...
language spoken in the
D'Entrecasteaux Islands D'Entrecasteaux Islands () are situated near the eastern tip of New Guinea in the Solomon Sea in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The group spans a distance of , has a total land area of approximately and is separated from the Papua New G ...
of Papua New Guinea.


Phonology


Consonants

* /p/ can fluctuate to aspirated ʰin stressed syllables. * /b d ɡ/ can also be heard as ��b ⁿd ᵑɡword-initially in stressed syllables. * /b/ can be heard as a fricative intervocalically in word-medial position. * /d/ can be heard as a tap intervocalically in word-medial position. * /s/ can be heard as a more fronted ̪in unstressed syllables following vowels /ɛ, a/. * Prevoicing of the lateral flap ̬ɺmay also occur in initial positions. * /ɺ/ may also be heard as a retroflex flap depending on the dialect of the speaker. It can also be heard as ̬ɽwhen realized as prevoiced in word-initial positions. * /w/ may fluctuate to a labio-dental among some speakers. * /j/ may be realized as a dental approximant �̞when before /a/.


Vowels

* /a/ is heard as before and after a labialized consonant, or with sounds /w/, /ʔ/. It is also heard as word-medially and word-finally in unstressed syllables. * /ʊ/ is heard as word-medially and word-finally but never following labialized consonants, or semivowels /w, j/. It is heard as when following sounds /s t̪ʰ/. * /o/ can be heard as when preceding a glottal stop /ʔ/.


References

Nuclear Papuan Tip languages Languages of Milne Bay Province D'Entrecasteaux Islands {{PapuanTip-lang-stub