Rotokas is famous for possessing one of the world's smallest phoneme inventories. According to one source, the Central dialect of Rotokas possesses only 11 segmental phonemes (five vowels and six consonants) and lacks nasals while the Aita dialect possesses a similar-sized inventory in which nasals replace voiced stops. However, recent fieldwork reveals that the Aita dialect has, in fact, both voiced and nasal stops, making for an inventory of 14 segmental phonemes (five vowels and nine consonants). The correspondences between Central and Aita Rotokas suggest that the former is innovative with respect to its consonant inventory and the latter conservative, and that the small inventory of Central Rotokas arose by collapsing the distinction between voiced and nasal stops.
Rotokas Phonemic Chart:
Consonantsː
|
|
Bilabial |
Alveolar |
Velar |
|
Stops |
p |
t |
k, ɡ |
|
Fricatives |
β |
|
|
|
Flaps |
ɾ |
|
Vowelsː
|
|
Front |
Central |
Back |
|
High |
i |
|
u |
|
Mid |
e |
|
o |
|
Low |
|
ɑ |
|
Long vowels: /i:, e:, ɑː oː, uː/
Rotokas is famous for possessing one of the world's smallest phoneme inventories.
According to one source, the Central dialect of Rotokas possesses only 11 segmental
phonemes (five vowels and six consonants) and lacks nasals while the Aita dialect
possesses a similar-sized inventory
in which nasals replace voiced stops. Rotokas is spoken by about 11,600
(2000 SIL) in Central Bougainville district, central mountains,
Bougainville province, Papua New Guinea.