Wahgi language

Wahgi is a language spoken by about 100,000 people in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. It is part of a group of languages called the Chimbu–Wahgi branch, which belongs to the larger Trans–New Guinea languages family.

Like some other Chimbu languages, Wahgi has special sounds called lateral consonants that make it interesting to language experts. These sounds add to the richness of the many languages in Papua New Guinea.

Learning about languages like Wahgi helps us see how people share their culture, traditions, and history through words and sounds. It shows the amazing variety of human language and how each one has its own unique qualities.

Phonology

Consonants

The Wahgi language has special sounds called dental consonants. These sounds are made by closing part of the mouth in a special way. They can change a little depending on where they appear in a word.

Prenasalized consonants mix a nasal sound with another consonant. When these sounds are not at the beginning of a word, the nasal part can act like a small part of the word but with a lower tone.

Most other sounds in Wahgi change depending on their place in a word.

The southern Kuma dialect of Wahgi has special sounds, but one type is not used very often.

Vowels

The vowel /a/ usually sounds a certain way but changes before some consonants. In the middle of words, it can sometimes sound different.

The vowel /ɔ/ generally sounds one way, but changes before nasal sounds. At the end of words, it can sometimes sound like another sound.

The vowel /u/ can become a soft sound between certain consonants.

All vowels sound a certain way at the end of words when they are not stressed.

In fast speech, some vowel sounds can disappear between stressed parts of words.

Tone and stress

Wahgi uses three main word tones. Every word has at least one part that sounds higher in pitch, creating different tone patterns.

In words with one or two parts, the three tones sound high, rising, and falling. In longer words, tones follow special patterns.

Phonotactics

The longest possible part of a word in Wahgi has four sounds, and the shortest is just a vowel. Most sounds can start a part of a word, but three special sounds cannot. Most sounds can end a part of a word, except some special sounds.

When two sounds end a part of a word, the first can only be certain sounds, and the second can only be /m/ or /s/.

Words in Wahgi can have from one to nine parts. Very short words can be just a vowel or a sound followed by a vowel.

The language allows certain groups of vowels and sounds inside words, and in fast speech, more groups can appear.

Wahgi consonants
		Bilabial	(palatalized) dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n̪~n̪ʲ	n		ŋ
Obstruent	oral	p	s̪~ɕ̪	t		k
Obstruent	prenasalised	ᵐb	ⁿd̪z̪~ⁿd̪ʑ̪	ⁿd		ᵑɡ
Lateral			ɬ̪~ɬ̪ʲ	ɺ		ʟ
Semivowel		w			j

Consonantal allophones
	word-initial	word-medial	word-final	word-initial, phrase-medial	word-final, phrase-medial
/p/	p~b pʷ~bʷ	p~b	pʰ~ɸ		pʰ~ɸ~pᵊ
/mb/	ᵐp~ᵐb	mp~mb	mpʰ~mɸ		mpʰ~mɸ~mpᵊ
/s/	t̪~t̪s̪~s̪~t̪ɕ~ɕ s̪ʷ	t̪s̪~s̪~t̪ɕ~ɕ t̪	t̪s̪~s̪~t̪ɕ~ɕ
/nz/	ⁿd̪~ⁿd̪z̪~ⁿd̪ʑ~ⁿt̪~ⁿt̪s̪~ⁿt̪ɕ	n̪d̪~n̪d̪z̪~n̪d̪ʑ~n̪t̪~n̪t̪s̪~n̪t̪ɕ	n̪t̪~n̪t̪s̪~n̪t̪ɕ~n̪s̪~n̪ɕ
/t/	t~d tʷ	ɾ~r	r̥	t~d ɾ~r	ɾ~r~r̥ t̚
/nd/	ⁿt~ⁿd	nt~nd	ntʰ		ntʰ~ntᵊ
/k/	k~ɡ kʷ~ɡʷ	k~ɡ ŋ (?)	kʰ
/ng/	ᵑk~ᵑɡ ᵑɡʷ	ŋk~ŋɡ	(does not occur)
/ɬ̪/	(do not occur)	ɬ̪ˢ̪~ɬ̪~ɮ̪	ɬ̪ˢ̪~ɬ̪
/ɺ/		ɺ̥~ɺ̥~ɺ̥tʰ~ɺ̥tr̥~ɺ̥r̥~ɺ~ɺ̥d	ɺ̥~ɺ̥~ɺ̥tʰ~ɺ̥tr̥~ɺ̥r̥
/ʟ/		ʟ~kʟ~ʟ̝~ɢ̆	ʟ~kʟ

Wahgi vowels
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ
Mid	e		ɔ
Open		ä

Evolution

Here are some sounds from an old language that show how the Wahgi language changed over time. These sounds were found by researchers in the 1970s and 2012.

The researcher also studied similar sounds in other languages like Apali, Kalam, Kâte, Selepet, Binandere, Katei, Kiwai, Telefol, and Asmat to help explain these changes.

proto-Trans-New Guinea	Middle Wahgi
*ma- ‘NEG clitic’	ma ‘no!’
*ma(n,k,L)[a] ‘ground’	maɫ
*maŋgV ‘compact round object’	muŋ ‘fruit, nut, lump’
*mo(k,ŋg)Vm ‘joint’	mokum, mokem ‘knuckle, joint’
*mundun-maŋgV ‘heart’	mund-muŋ
*mV ‘taro’	mi
*mV(k,ŋ)V[C] + t(e,i)- ‘vomit’	mek (si-) ‘vomit’, mek ‘vomitus’
*am(a,i) ‘mother’	ama
*amu ‘breast’	am
*niman ‘louse’	numan
*n(o,u)man ‘mind, soul’	numan ‘thought, mind, will’
*kumV- ‘die’	kumb- ‘(of fire) die’
*mo(k,ŋg)Vm ‘joint’	mokum, mokem, (angeɫ) mokem ‘knuckle, joint’
*na- ‘eat’	no-
*niman ‘louse’	numan
*n(o,u)man ‘mind, soul’	numan ‘thought, mind, will’
*mundun ‘internal organs’	(?) mundun mo- ‘be pot-bellied’
*niman ‘louse’	numan
*n(o,u)man ‘mind, soul’	numan
*mundu[n]-maŋgV ‘heart’	mund-muŋ
*ŋaŋ[a] ‘baby’	ŋaŋ ‘small male child’
*ambi ‘man’	(?) amb ‘woman’, ambi- ‘wife’
*imbi ‘name’	embe(m)
*pu- ‘go’	pu
*apa ‘father’	apa- ‘maternal uncle’
*mund-mangV ‘heart’	mund-mung
*tVk- ‘cut, cut off’	tuk- ‘chop’
*maŋgV ‘compact round object’	mungum ‘kidney’
*maŋgV ‘compact round object’	muŋ ‘fruit, nut, lump’
*mundu[n]-maŋgV ‘heart’	mund-muŋ
*kakV- ‘carry on shoulder’	(?) kau- ‘carry on head or shoulder’
*tVk- ‘cut, cut off’	tuk- ‘chop’
*muk ‘blue’	muk
*mV(k,ŋ)V[C] + t(e,i)- ‘vomit’	mek (si-), mek ‘vomitus’
*ma(n,k,l)[a] ‘ground’	maɫ ‘ground, soil, world’
*nok ‘water’	noɫ
*ŋaŋ[a] ‘baby’	ŋaɫ ‘small baby’, ŋaŋa ‘male child’
*-i(t,l) ‘2DL verbal suffix’	-iɫ

Semantics

Middle Wahgi has special words for colors. It has 14 words for colors and shades, like "white," "black," "blue," "green," "brown," "red," "orange," "pink," and "yellow." It also has words for patterns like stripes, spots, and mixed colors.

The language has many words for days. It has words for days up to ten days away, both in the future and in the past.

Dictionary

The first dictionary for Middle Wahgi was made in 1975 by Evelyn Ramsey, a medical worker from the Church of the Nazarene.