Yamdena language
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Yamdena is an Austronesian language of Yamdena and surrounding islands in the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. In 1991, there were an estimated 25,000 speakers of the language.[citation needed] Current BPS data has the present number of speakers at 69,000.[citation needed][when?]
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
| voiced | b | d | |||
| prenasal | ᵐp | ⁿd | |||
| Fricative | f | s | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
| Rhotic | r | ||||
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Approximant | w | j |
- Stops /b,t/ can very rarely be realized as coarticulated sounds [ɡ͡b,k͡t] by some speakers.
- /m/ can be heard as voiceless [m̥] in free variation when before initial voiceless stops, or after voiceless stops.
- /ŋ/ is heard as labialized [ŋʷ] when occurring before liquids, or in word-final position.
- /r/ can be heard as [ɺ] in free variation intervocalically, and as [ɾ] when before voiceless consonants.
- /d,ⁿd/ when occurring before /i/ can also be heard as palatal stops [ɟ,ᶮɟ].
Vowels
- Vowels /a,o/ can be heard as [ə] within unstressed syllables.
- /i/ can be heard as [ɪ] word-finally, after vowels.
- /o/ can be heard as [ɔ] when before /r/.
Further reading
- Visser, Eline (2024). . Language Documentation & Conservation. 18. University of Hawaii Press: 67–108. hdl:. ISSN . Open access