Bukawa language

Bukawa (also known as Bukaua, Kawac, Bugawac, Gawac) is an Austronesian language spoken by about 10,000 people (in 1978) on the coast of the Huon Gulf, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The most common spelling of the name in both community and government usage is Bukawa (Eckermann 2007:1), even though it comes from the Yabem language, which served as a church and school lingua franca in the coastal areas around the Gulf for most of the 20th century. This ethnonym, which now designates Bukawa-speakers in general, derives from the name of a prominent village Bugawac (literally 'River Gawac', though no such river seems to exist) at Cape Arkona in the center of the north coast.

Ethnologue notes that 40% of Bukawa speakers are monolingual (or perhaps were in 1978). This claim is hard to credit unless one discounts both Tok Pisin, the national language of Papua New Guinea, and Yabem, the local Lutheran mission lingua franca. The anthropologist Ian Hogbin, who did fieldwork in the large Bukawa-speaking village of Busama on the south coast shortly after World War II, found that everyone was multilingual in three languages: Tok Pisin, Yabem, and their village language (Hogbin 1951).

Phonology

Vowels (orthographic)

Bukawa distinguishes the eight vowel qualities. The central mid vowel is rounded, while the low vowel is unrounded.

Consonants (orthographic)

Glottal stop, written with a c as in Yabem, is only distinctive at the end of syllables. The only other consonants that can occur syllable-finally are labials and nasals: p, b, m, ŋ. Syllable-structure constraints are most easily explained if labialized and prenasalized consonants are considered unit phonemes rather than clusters. The distinction between voiced (vd) and voiceless (vl) laterals and approximants is unusual for Huon Gulf languages.

Tone contrasts

Vowels are further distinguished by high or low pitch. The latter is marked orthographically by a grave accent. These distinctions in tone are thus based on register tone, not contour tone as in Mandarin Chinese. Register tone contrasts are a relatively recent innovation of the North Huon Gulf languages. While tone is somewhat predictable in Yabem, where low tone correlates with voiced obstruents and high tone with voiceless obstruents, Bukawa has lost that correlation. Nor does Bukawa tone correlate predictably with Yabem tone. Compare Yab. low-tone awê 'woman' and Buk. high-tone awhê 'woman', both presumably from POc *papine (or *tapine).

Contrastive nasalization

Final syllables appear to show distinctive nasal contrasts. Anticipation of final nasal consonants causes final vowels to nasalize, even when the final nasal consonant is elided in actual speech. Anticipation of nonnasal codas on final syllables, on the other hand, has caused systematic stopping (postplosion) of syllable-initial nasals, creating a class of prenasalized voiced obstruents that correspond to simple nasals in Yabem, as in the final seven examples in the following table. (See Bradshaw 2010.)

Morphology

Pronouns and person markers

Free pronouns

Genitive pronouns

The short, underdifferentiated genitive forms are often disambiguated by adding the free pronoun in front.

Numerals

Traditional counting practices started with the digits of one hand, then continued on the other hand, and then the feet to reach '20', which translates as 'one person'. Higher numbers are multiples of 'one person'. Nowadays, most counting above '5' is done in Tok Pisin. As in other Huon Gulf languages, the short form of the numeral 'one' functions as an indefinite article.

Names

Like most of the languages around the Huon Gulf, Bukawa has a system of birth-order names (Holzknecht 1989: 43-45). The seventh son is called "No Name": se-mba 'name-none'. Compare Numbami.

References

• Bradshaw, Joel (1997). The population kaleidoscope: Another factor in the Melanesian diversity v. Polynesian homogeneity debate. Journal of the Polynesian Society 106:222-249.
• Bradshaw, Joel (2010). Bukawa's suprasegmental journey: A review of Eckermann (2007). Oceanic Linguistics 49:580-590.
• Eckermann, W. (2007). A descriptive grammar of the Bukawa language of the Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
• Hogbin, Ian (1951). Transformation scene: The changing culture of a New Guinea village. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
• Holzknecht, Susanne (1989). The Markham languages of Papua New Guinea. Series C-115. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Languages of Papua New Guinea
Official languages	English Hiri Motu Tok Pisin Papua New Guinean Sign Language
Major Indigenous languages	Adzera Amanab Awad Bing Barok Bimin Bola Bugawac Dedua Dobu Kâte Kobon Kovai Kuanua Kuman Kuot Kurti Lihir Mandara Mangseng Mbula Mende Mussau-Emira Mutu Nekgini Ngaing Nobonob Numanggang Nyindrou Pele-Ata Petats Ramoaaina Seimat Solong Somba-Siawari Suau Sulka Tobo Ura Vitu Waris
Other Papuan languages	Angan Akoye Angaataha Ankave Hamtai Kamasa Kawacha Menya Safeyoka Simbari Susuami Tainae Yagwoia Yipma Awin–Pa Awin Pa Binanderean Baruga Binandere Ewage Korafe Orokaiva Suena Yekora Zia Bosavi Aimele Beami Edolo Kaluli Kasua Onobasulu Sonia Chimbu–Wahgi Chuave Dom Golin Kandawo Kaugel Kuman Maring Melpa Narak Nii Nomane Salt-Yui Sinasina Tembagla Wahgi Duna–Pogaya Duna Pogaya East Kutubuan Fasu Fiwaga Foi East Strickland Fembe Gobasi Konai Kubo Odoodee Samo Engan Angal Bisorio Enga Huli Ipili Kewa Kyaka Lembena Samberigi Eleman Kaki Ae Keuru Opao Orokolo Toaripi Tairuma Ok–Oksapmin Bimin Faiwol Mian Ngalum Ninggerum Oksapmin Setaman Suganga Telefol Tifal Urap Yonggom Teberan Dadibi Folopa Tirio Abom Baramu Bitur Tirio Were Turama–Kikorian Ikobi Omati Rumu Larger Families Finisterre–Huon Kainantu–Goroka Madang Ramu–Lower Sepik Sepik Southeast Papuan Torricelli