Organised Phonology Data

Suena Language [SUE] Morobe – Trans New Guinea Phylum; Binanderean Stock; Binandere Family Population census: 2300 (1981) Major villages: Eware, Mou, Bosadi, Gori, Amua, Maiama Linguistic work done by: SIL Data checked by:

Phonemic and Orthographic Inventory

 b d e  i k m n o p r s t u w dz j a b d e g i k m n o p r s t u w z y A B D E G I K M N O P S T U W Z Y

Consonants

Bilab LabDen Dental Alveo Postalv Retro Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn Glottal Plosive p b t d k  Nasal m n Trill r Tap/Flap Fricative s Lateral Fricative Approx j Lateral Approx Ejective Stop Implos

/w/ voiced labial-velar approximant

/dz/ voiced alveolar affricate p pama 'hill' w wara 'jungle' dape 'plant it!' ewa 'here' b bama 'woman' t tamo 'man' dabe 'together' utu 'sky' m mama 'father' d dama 'dew' tama 'skin' didinoa 'he ties up'

Suena OPD Printed: September 6, 2004 Page 2 n nama ' I ' k kaya 'small knife' suna 'dog' guka 'snore' r -  gasa 'yam' wara 'bush' nogo 'what?' s sara 'bamboo' j yara 'Pleiades' sasa 'armpit' gaya 'frog' dz zama 'sweet odour' zizinoya 'he holds'

Vowels

i u

e o

 i iwo 'turtle' o owa 'there (distant' ititi 'shadow' toya 'he says' uwi 'firefly' omo 'fish' kiaka 'small' boa 'umbrella' e ewa 'here'  awa 'there (close)' demira 'mosquito' pama 'hill' zore 'another' taba 'corn' keai 'to tear' saia 'it's cooked' u utu 'stick' gutu 'isle' nu 'he' bua 'garden'

Suprasegmentals (tone, stress, length) Stress occurs on the penult of poly-syllabic noun stems. Stress on verbs is more irregular. Tone is phonemic zá 'Areca nut' gamía 'he bit' za 'mushroom' gámia 'he pulled up'

Syllable Patterns V a 'that' u.so 'coconut' ni.a.o 'fire' po.i.a 'banana' CV na 'I' pa.ma 'hill' ke.ke.sa 'plant sp.' a.ti 'string bag'

Conventions: Phonological

/ p t k / are aspirated Suena OPD Printed: September 6, 2004 Page 3

/ w / is pronounced [w] before /u o / and [ ] before [i e]

/r/ and /d/ possibly represent one phoneme. Free fluctuation of full phonemes occurs in the following words: susawia or suzawia 'he is going'; potitinoya or motitinoya 'he is putting'.

Conventions: Orthographic Phonemic tone is not written. Letters < f l ng h v > are used for foreign words.

Transcription of a recorded passage / em eto dzdzo nusoto jni jwiri mi binndere nn jwirir mi pummu susumite um ew soe pisiro susunu iro ete en dimuro wen dumu meni db pisiro susumite dzore dzore wero iro n me ipure do ew tur susumite iri ike niro um dzdzn koko inoinu iro witiro muro dzo iti dzo r sniwto sniro puro bmuro ete en beniro puro bmu binndere nn niw to dzero niw w /

< Ema eto zazo nusoto Yanai Yawiri ami Binandere nana Yawirira mai pumamu, susaumite ugama ewa soe pisiro susaunu giro ete ena dagimuro wena dumu meni daba pisiro. Susaumite zorage zorage wero giro ana me ipure dago ewa tura. Susaumite iri ike niro ugama zazana koakoa inoinu, giro witiro muro zo giti zo ara saniwato. Saniro puro bamuro ete ena beniro puro bamu Binandere nana niwato azero niwa awa.>

Two men named Yanai and Yawiri were going to the Binandere area to get Yawiri's child when they saw a crocodile drifting in mid ocean. They dived in from the bank and drifted with only to the point of their nose sticking out. Seeing they were getting closer, they jackknifed under the water and went along. Glancing up they saw the crocodile's chest shining so they went up and one held the head and one held the tail. They held it and took it and went to shore and tied it up and took it to the Binandere area and they all butchered it and ate it.

Bibliography Wilson, Darryl. 1969. 'Suena Phonology.' Pacific Linguistics A 18:87-93 ___. 1969. 'Suena Grammar Highlights.' Pacific Linguistics A 18:95-110 ___. 1969. 'The Binandere .' Pacific Linguistics A 18:65-86 ___. 1974. 'Suena Grammar.' Workpapers in Languages 8, 169 pp. ISBN 0-7263-0315-1 ___. 1976. 'Paragraph and Discourse Structure in Suena.' Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages 15:5- 125. ___. 1965-1973. Manuscripts. SIL, Ukarumpa.