Rotokas
North Bougainville (isolate-like)
Rotokas is famous for having one of the smallest phoneme inventories in the world: just six consonants (p, t, k, β, ɾ, ɡ) and five vowels in the central dialect — no nasals at all. Spoken by ~4,000 people in the mountainous interior of Bougainville Island (Papua New Guinea). The central-dialect inventory was first carefully documented by Stuart and Janice Firchow (1973) for the Summer Institute of Linguistics; Stuart Robinson (2006, 2011) re-examined the Aita dialect, which adds nasal segments and brings the consonant count closer to nine. Because Rotokas has such a small sound system, words tend to be longer than in phonologically rich languages — a small alphabet of phonemes needs more syllables to keep words apart.
Where it is spoken
20 core words in Rotokas
Water
ovi
/oβi/
Fire
erava
/eɾaβa/
Sun
ravireo
/ɾaβiɾeo/
Moon
kekira
/kekiɾa/
Mother
aako
/aːko/
Father
aite
/aite/
Eat
aio
/aio/
Drink
—
/—/
Love
—
/—/
Heart
—
/—/
Tree
evaova
/eβaoβa/
House
kepa
/kepa/
Dog
kaakau
/kaːkau/
Cat
—
/—/
Hand
—
/—/
Eye
osireito
/osiɾeito/
Hello
ega
/eɡa/
Thank you
—
/—/
One
katai
/katai/
Good
rekoreko
/ɾekoɾeko/
Sources
- Firchow & Firchow (1973) SIL Rotokas vocabulary
- Robinson (2006) "The Phoneme Inventory of the Aita Dialect of Rotokas." Oceanic Linguistics 45(1): 206-209
- Glottolog: Rotokas (roto1249)
- WALS: Rotokas
Words compared
Compared with related North Bougainville (isolate-like) languages
| Meaning | Rotokas | Yangkaal | Yuchi | Phrygian | Neko | Kusunda | Lardil |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | ovi /oβi/ | ngogo /ŋoɡo/ | cha /tʃa/ | — /—/ | wai /wai/ | tang /tɑŋ/ | kantha /kanθa/ |
| Fire | erava /eɾaβa/ | ngida /ŋida/ | tsoda /tsoda/ | — /—/ | titɛ /titɛ/ | yu /ju/ | jalul /d͡ʒalul/ |
| Sun | ravireo /ɾaβiɾeo/ | wargu /waɾɡu/ | dethla /dɛhla/ | — /—/ | aatʌ /aːtʌ/ | nəm /nəm/ | thurara /θuɾaɾa/ |
| Moon | kekira /kekiɾa/ | waldar /waldaɾ/ | zethla /zɛhla/ | masê /maˈseː/ | — /—/ | pom /pom/ | kirdikir /kiɖikir/ |
| Mother | aako /aːko/ | ngama /ŋama/ | ahnʌh /ahnʌh/ | mater /ˈmater/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | ngama /ŋama/ |
| Father | aite /aite/ | kanda /kanda/ | — /—/ | atas /aˈtas/ | — /—/ | ama /ama/ | — /—/ |
| Eat | aio /aio/ | — /—/ | gʌ /ɡʌ/ | — /—/ | nei /nei/ | təim /təim/ | jitha /d͡ʒiθa/ |
| Drink | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Love | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Heart | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Tree | evaova /eβaoβa/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | tei /tei/ | cigi /t͡siɡi/ | tungal /tuŋal/ |
| House | kepa /kepa/ | — /—/ | tsotʔa /tsotʔa/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | gepa /ɡepa/ | — /—/ |
| Dog | kaakau /kaːkau/ | — /—/ | shtsé /ʃtsɛ/ | kan /kan/ | gonʌ /ɡonʌ/ | agəi /aɡəi/ | ngawu /ŋawu/ |
| Cat | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Hand | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | gisi /ɡisi/ | marra /maɾa/ |
| Eye | osireito /osiɾeito/ | miibul /miːbul/ | shela /ʃela/ | — /—/ | ta /ta/ | gam /ɡam/ | mela /mela/ |
| Hello | ega /eɡa/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Thank you | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| One | katai /katai/ | — /—/ | hahgo /hahɡo/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | nu /nu/ | kunngirr /kuŋŋir/ |
| Good | rekoreko /ɾekoɾeko/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
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