Orowe (ʼÔrôê, Boewe, Neukaledonien) is an Oceanic language of New Caledonia.
Phonology
The phonological inventry in Orowe contains 24 consonants and 16 vowels. There are 10 oral vowels and 6 nasal vowels[2].
The proposed orthographic symbols for each phoneme in the article are presented in angled brackets < >.
Consonants
| Labial | Labial velarized | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Velar labialized | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | <p> /p/ | <pw> /pʷ/ | <t> /t/ | <tj> /c/ | <k> /k/ | <kw> /kʷ/ | <‘> /ʔ/ | |
| voiced | <b> /b/ | <bw> /bʷ/ | <d> /d/ | <dj> /ɟ/ | <g> /g/ | <gw> /gʷ/ | |||
| Nasal | <m> /m/ | <mw> /mʷ/ | <n> /n/ | <ny> /ɲ/ | <ng> /ŋ/ | ||||
| Fricative | <v> /v/ | <gh> /ɣ/ | |||||||
| Approximant | <w> /w/ | <j> /j/ | |||||||
| Liquid | <rr> /r/,
<r> /ɾ/ |
||||||||
Vowels
Oral vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | <i> /i/ | <ü> /y/ | <u> /u/ |
| Close mid | <e> /e/ | <ù> /ø/ | <o> /o/ |
| Open mid | <è> /ɛ/ | <ë> /ǝ/ | <ò> /ɔ/ |
| Open | <a> /a/ |
Nasal vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | <î> /ĩ/ | <ü̃>/ỹ/ | <û> /ũ/ |
| Close mid | <ê> /ẽ/ | <ô> /õ/ | |
| Open | <â> /ã/ |
References
- ^ Orowe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Tsuji (2015:2)
Bibliography
- Tsuji Emiko (2015) ‘”Ôrôê”. In Toshihide Nakayama, Noboru Yoshioka, and Kosei Otsuka, eds.. Grammatical Sketches from the field 2. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. pp.1-31.