Studies in Irian Languages, Part II

The language is closely related to Meyah, as demonstrated in Reesink (2000a). Both languages have
five phonemic vowels /i, e, a, o, u/, represented by /, e, a, o, and u, and have the restriction that all verb
stems have an initial vowel, which cannot be [ + HIGH], so that verbs can only begin with e, o, or a.
Sougb does not have a voicing distinction for the stops of four points of articulation: bilabial p~~b }
alveolar t~d, palatal c~j, and velar k~g, even though the orthography, as employed in the New
Testament, suggests such a distinction. There are three fricatives, bilabial $, represented by/, alveolar s,
and laryngeal h, two phonemic nasals, bilabial m and alveolar n, and one liquid, with free variation
between [r] and [1], both of which are used in the orthography. Four vowel sequences have been attested:
ei, ou t ai and au. Sougb has a pitch-accent system with two levels of tone, yielding a number of minimal
pairs, such as mog 'thorn, sharp' and mog 'flesh'. On polysyllabic words, only the stressed syllable is
specified for a certain tone.

A distinctive feature of the language is a word-final labio-velar consonant, written as gb, as in the
name of the language. This is analyzed as a velar stop, whose rounding is caused by the preceding high
back vowel.

Verbs and inalienable nouns, the latter include items with initial i or u, are prefixed to indicate person
and number of subject and possessor, respectively. Third person singular is zero on verbs and m(£)- on
nouns, lowering high stem vowels: ind-ums 'lSG-ear', m-oms '3SG-ear'; ab-ir '2SG-voice\ m-er '3SG-
voice'. There is an inclusive-exclusive opposition for first person plural and dual. The dual is marked by

Research for this article was conducted under the auspices of ISIR (Irian Jaya Studies: a programme for
interdisciplinary research, 1993-2000), a priority programme of NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific
Research) which is financed by WOTRO (Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research). The
programme was carried out in cooperation with LIPI [Lembaga llmu Pengetahuan Indonesia). I wish to express my
gratitude to Dr Hasan Alwi, head of the Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, for his willingness to be my
sponsor.

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ISSN 0126 -2874

NUSA

LINGUISTIC STUDIES OF INDONESIAN
AND OTHER LANGUAGES IN INDONESIA

VOLUME 47, 2000

STUDIES IN IRIAN LANGUAGES

PART II

Edited by
GER P. REESINK