Pu u Lamu
| Pu u Lamu | |
|---|---|
| Pu u Lamu | |
| Pronunciation | [pu u lamu] |
| Ethnicity | North Tujuans |
| Native speakers | ~5 million (2016) |
| Language family | Saru-Asuran
|
| Official status | |
| Official language in | Tuju |
| Recognised minority language in | Kawui |
| CWS code | UJU |
Pu u Lamu is a Saru-Asuran language of the Tujuan branch. It is an official language of Tuju alongside Uňe Lãa and is a recognised minority language in Kawui.
Background
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Plosive | p | t | t͡ɕ | k | ||
| Fricative | s | ɕ | χ | h | ||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||
| Flap or tap | ɾ |
Allophony
- /n/ assimilates to the place of articulation of a following consonant, merging with /m/ before labials and being realised as /n̠ʲ/ before palatals, [ŋ] before velars and [ɴ] before uvulars respectively.
- /n, l, w, h/ palatalise to [n̠ʲ, l̠ʲ, ɥ, ç] before front vowels, /w/ is also realised [ɥ] when preceded by a front vowel in a closed syllable.
- /h/ is realised as [ɸ] before /u/.
- Voicless obstruents [p, t, k, ɸ, s, ɕ, ç, χ, h, t͡ɕ] are voiced [b, d, g, β, z, ʑ, ʝ, ʁ, ɦ, d͡ʑ] word medially.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i y | u | |
| Mid | ə | ||
| Near-open | æ | ||
| Open | a |
Allophony
- Close vowels /i, y, u/ are lowered and centralised to [ɪ, ʏ, ʊ] in closed syllables.
- Close vowels /i, y, u/ are lowered to [ɛ, œ, ɔ] when in contact with /χ/.
- /ə/ is lowered and backed to [ʌ] when followed by /w/ in a closed syllable.
- In casual speech /y, u/ are often elided in unstressed syllables, allowing for otherwise impermissible consonant clusters and coda consonants to occur, a phonemic contrast between the close vowels [y, u] and near-close vowels [ʏ, ʊ] and between palatalised and unpalatalised consonants, phonemic labalised consonants, and stress to shift to the last syllable. This is considered non-standard and subpar, however.
Phonotactics
Syllable Structure
Standard Pu u Lamu has a (C)V(C) structure where only /m, n, l, j, w/ can occur in the coda. Consonant clusters can only appear at syllable boundaries and geminates do not occur except for /m, n, l/, which are analysed as consonant clusters.
Pu u Lamu features vowel harmony where the front vowels /i, y, æ/ can only appear in a word together and the central and back vowles /ə, u, a/ can only appear in a word together however some loanwords do not comply to this rule.
Stress=
Stress is fixed on the penultimate syllable with the exception of some loanwords.
Orthography
Pu u Lamu is traditionally written in a syllbary.
Romanisation
Pu u Lamu is romanised as follows: Aa /a/ Cc /t͡ɕ/ Ee /æ/ Hh /h/ Ii /i/ Kk /k/ Ll /l/ Mm /m/ Nn /n/ Oo /ə/ Pp /p/ Qq' /χ/ Rr /ɾ/ Ss /s/ Šš /ɕ/ Tt /t/ Uu /u/ Üü /y/ Ww /w/ Yy /j/