Muyuw language

Muyuw language (Egum, Murua, Murua Dukwayasi, Murua Kaulae, Muruwa, Muyu, Muyua, Muyuwa) is one of the Kilivila–Louisiades languages (of the Austronesian language family), spoken on the Woodlark Islands, in the Solomon Sea within Papua New Guinea.

Muyuw
Region	Eastern New Guinea
Native speakers	(6,000 cited 1998)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic Papuan Tip Kilivila–Misima Kilivila Muyuw
Language codes
ISO 639-3	myw
Glottolog	muyu1244

As of 1998^[update], the number of speakers is 6,000, 3,000 of whom are monolinguals. Speakers also use Dobu, Kilivila or Misima-Paneati. Latin script is used.

Dialects include Yanaba, Lougaw (Gawa), Wamwan, Nawyem, and Iwa. The Iwa dialect is transitional between Muyuw and Kilivila. Its lexical similarity with Kilivila is 68%.

Phonology

Phonology of the Muyuw language:^[2]

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
		plain	lab.			plain	lab.
Plosive	voiceless	p	pʷ	t		k	kʷ
	voiced	b	bʷ	d		ɡ	ɡʷ
Nasal		m	mʷ
Fricative		v		s
Lateral				l
Approximant		w			j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ʌ	ɔ
Open		a

References

1. Muyuw at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Lithgow, Daphne & David (1974). Muyuw language. Dictionaries of Papua New Guinea, 1.; Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)