Skou | |
---|---|
Tumawo | |
Native to | Indonesia |
Region | Muara Tami District [id], Jayapura City |
Native speakers | (700 cited 1999) |
Language family | Skou
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | skv |
Glottolog | nucl1634 |
ELP | Skou |
Skou (Sekol, Sekou, Sko, Skouw, Skow, Sukou), or Tumawo (Te Mawo), is a Papuan language of Indonesia.
Distribution
Skou is spoken in three villages of Muara Tami District [id], Jayapura City. The villages are:
- Skou Yambe [id] (Skou name: Te Tángpe), the westernmost and most populous Skou village
- Skou Mabo [id] (Skou name: Te Máwo), located between Skou Yambe and Skou Sae villages
- Skou Sae [id] (Skou name: Te Bapúbi), the easternmost and least populous Skou village
Phonology
Consonants
The Skou consonants are:
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ||||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ||
voiced | b | ɟ~ɡʲ | ||||
Fricative | f | h | ||||
Liquid | lateral | l | ||||
rhotic | r | |||||
Semivowel | w | j |
Vowels
Vowels can be nasalized, except for /ɨ/ and /u/.
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
oral | nasal | oral | nasal | oral | nasal | |
Close | i | ĩ | ɨ | u | ||
Mid | e | ẽ | ə | ə̃ | o | õ |
Open | a | ã |
Tone
Skou contrasts three different tones in monosyllables: high, low and falling, which can be combined with nasality for a six-way contrast.
Pitch | Oral | Nasal |
---|---|---|
high | ta
'grass' |
tã
'bird' |
low | ta
'hair' |
tã
'canoe' |
falling | ta
'arrow' |
tã
'machete' |
Tone in Skou is affiliated with each word, rather than with each syllable.
In addition to lexical differences in tone, tone has grammatical functions.
For instance, tense in Skou is differentiated by tone.
non-past tense forms | ||
---|---|---|
falling-falling 'I sew' |
falling-high 'I stand' |
falling-low 'I drink' |
past tense forms | ||
falling-low 'I sewed' |
falling-low 'I stood' |
falling-low 'I drank' |
Pronouns
Skou differentiates three types of pronouns: free pronouns, genitive pronouns and dative pronouns.
Free | Genitive | Dative | |
---|---|---|---|
1SG | |||
1PL | |||
2SG | |||
2PL | |||
3SG.NF | |||
3SG.F | |||
3PL |
References
- Skou at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Donohue, Mark. 2004. A Grammar of the Skou language of New Guinea. Singapore: National University of Singapore. Available at .
- ^ Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- Donohue, Mark. 2004. A Grammar of the Skou language of New Guinea. Singapore: National University of Singapore. Available at .
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