Hamtai language

Hamtai (also called Hamday or Kapau) is the most populous of the Angan languages of Papua New Guinea. It is also known as Kamea, Kapau, and Watut. Dialects are Wenta, Howi, Pmasa’a, Hamtai proper, and Kaintiba.^[1] The language was unwritten until 2009.^[2]

Hamtai
Hamday
Kapau
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Morobe Province, Gulf Province
Native speakers	(45,000 cited 1998)[1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Angan Southeast Hamtai
Dialects	Wenta Howi Pmasa'a Hamtai Proper Kaintiba
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hmt
Glottolog	hamt1247

Phonology

In Hamtai, there are 14 consonants, 7 vowels, and two tones (rising and falling).

Vowels

Table of vowels in Hamtai^[3][4]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/	i /ɨ/	u /u/
Close-mid	e /e/		o /o/
Open-mid			ä, aa /ʌ/
Open		a /a/

Consonants

Table of consonant phonemes in Hamtai^[3]

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/		ng /ŋ/
Plosive		p /p/	t /t/		k /k/	k̥/q /q/	' /ʔ/
Approximant	voiced			y /j/	w /w/
	unvoiced				wh /w̥/
Fricative	voiced	v /v/
	unvoiced	f /f/					h /h/

References

1. Hamtai at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. "John Allen Chau: Do missionaries help or harm?". BBC News. 28 November 2018.
3. Healy, Alan (1981). The Phonological Complexity of Kapau. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics. p. 95.
4. Oates, W.; Oates, L. (1968). Kapau pedagogical grammar. Canberra, Australia: The Australian National University. pp. 7–8.