Suena Grammar

SUENA GRAWnAR

3. PHONOLOGY

The phonemes of Suena are not at all complicated.
In the practical orthography only one symbol has two
allophonesj i.e*, w represents both (w) and (b)*
The symbol z represents the alveolar affricate /dz/.
Other than that the practical orthography la phonemic
and also phonetic.

Suena Phonemes i

Consonants
Labial Dental & Alveolar Alveo-Palatal Velar
Obstruents

vl. p t 8 k

vd. b d dz 9

flapped r

Reidnants m y

Nasals m n

Vowels

Front

Central

Back

High

i

u

Loui

3

a

Syllables. A Suena syllable is composed of one vowel, with
optional consonant onset. There are only two syllable
patterns, M and CV, though a few speakers have a prenasalli^ed

10 51JEMA GRAIvir/iAR

stop in certain uiords.
Examplesi

ma bua mambya 'taro garden*

nabu nembu 'neighbor*

nabai nambai *to lie side by side*

Stress and Tone. Stress and Tone have not been fully
analyzed as yet» Tone carries a low functional load.
To date 47 pairs of words identical except for tone
have been discovered. See the list in Section 14.2.
Intonational patterns. There are at least five types of
intonation.

1» Falling intonation throughout a pause group signals
finality, as in the Indicative, Question, Hortative,
Quoting Hortative, and Dubitative r?loods, and in the
Imperative.

Indicative I ni bayamunosa awa 'You will go.*

Question! ni nago susawesi? *Ulhere are you going?*

Hortativei Ago bayanekai 'Let us go there.'
Quot. Hort.i saineba, maise '(Vjaski, let him come*

Dubitativei opi tosua 'Perhaps you are lying.*

Imperative f anisemu *Turn it around I*

2. Level intonation signals non-finality or incompleteness,

and is characteristic of Dependent Clauses.

ni bayasa na bayamunona awa. ' Ulhen you go , then 1*11 go.*

na bua inona pu mutayaT" ' I'Jhile I mas lAiorking the pig

came . '

SUENA GRAIV|?V!AR 11

3t Final rise and fall intonation converts an Indicative
r/loqd into what might be called a Declaration of the Obvious.
It signals that a Yes response is anticipated.

bayamunosa 'So you will go, •ill you?'

Maki, itesa 'So you are here, are you, Wark?'

4» Liitsl or slightly descending int0nation with a final low

fall Qi^curs in Interrogative clauses, and signals that a

Ves^liH response is anticipated*

""" — ^ ^

bayamunoeita '111111 you go?*

afo tflslta 'bid he tio that?'

5. A mid rise and final fall signals a conditional sentence*

ni bayamunosa awa, na ni gamunona awaT
'If you go, I will see you.'

Ni na damunosa awa, na ni ina damunona awa>
'If you hit me, I will hit you back*'

Wilson, Darryl. 1974. Suena grammar Workpapers in Papua New Guinea
Languages, 8. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics. 169 p.