Gumawana (sometimes also referred to by the exonym Gumasi) is an Austronesian language spoken by people living on the Amphlett Islands of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.
Classification Gumawana is an Austronesian language of the North Papuan Mainland-D'Entrecasteaux branch.
Geographic distribution Gumawana is spoken by some 470 people in the small Amphlett Islands of Papua New Guinea's Milne Bay Province. The language is spoken on the four inhabited islands of the archipelago: Nubogeta, Gumawana, Omea, Kotoita, and Bituma. Gumawama has been influenced by the nearby Dobu language, and speakers of Gumawana often have knowledge of other neighboring Papuan Tip languages.
Dialects Gumawana had three dialects: Nubogeta, Omea, and Bituma. The last speaker of the Omea dialect died in April 1988. The Bituma dialect is very different from the Nubogeta dialect of Nubogeta and Gumawana islands in both syntax and lexicon.
Phonology Gumawana has 11 consonant phonemes and 5 vowel phonemes. +Gumawana consonantsBilabialLabio-DentalAlveolarVelarPlosive FricativeNasalLateral Olson represents the labio-dental consonant as bilabial in later works, and also includes the palatal approximant . +Gumawana vowelsFrontCentralBackCloseClose-midOpen Syllables have a (C)V structure.
Grammar Clauses in Gumawana have a basic order of SOV. Oblique noun phrases occur between the direct object and the verb.
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