Boiken language
| Boiken | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Papua New Guinea | 
| Region | Sepik River basin | 
Native speakers  | 35,000 (2004)[1] | 
Sepik
 
  | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bzf | 
| Glottolog | boik1241 | 
| ELP | Boiken | 
Boiken (Nucum, Yangoru) is one of the more populous of the Ndu languages of Sepik River region of northern Papua New Guinea. It is spoken around Boiken Creek in Yangoru-Saussia District, East Sepik Province and adjacent islands off the north coast of northern Papua New Guinea.[1]
Phonology
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n̪ | n | (ŋ) | ||
| Stop | p | t | k | (ʔ) | ||
| Affricate | t̪s̪ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | s | x | ||
| voiced | ɣ | |||||
| Approximant | w | l̪ | j | |||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Flap | ɺ | |||||
- Stop sounds /p, t̪s̪, t, k/ are heard as voiced [b, d̪z̪, d, ɡ] when following a nasal counterpart.
 - /k/ has an allophone of a glottal [ʔ] in word-final position, or when preceding a consonant in word-medial position.
 - Sounds /ɸ, s, x/ can be voiced as [β, z, ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
 - /n/ is heard as [ŋ] when preceding velar consonants, or freely in word-final position.
 - /r/ can be heard as a voiceless trill [r̥] in word-initial positions.
 
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u | 
| Mid | e | ə | o | 
| Open | æ | a | ɒ | 
- /ɨ, ə/ have allophones of [ɪ, ɛ] when following dental and alveolar sounds.
 - /u/ has an allophone of [ʊ] when preceding /k/ heard as a glottal [ʔ] in word-medial and word-final positions.
 - /o/ has an allophone of [ɔ] when following labial and velar sounds.
 
References
External links
- Paradisec houses two collections of Arthur Capell's materials that include Boiken (AC1 and AC2) as well as notes from Don Laycock's work (DL2) all of these collections are open access.