Cèmuhî language


Cemuhî is an Oceanic language spoken on the island of New Caledonia, in the area of Poindimié, Koné, and Touho. The language has approximately 3,300 speakers and is considered a regional language of France.

Phonology

Consonants

Cèmuhî has a consonantal distinction of what Rivierre calls nasal, semi-nasal, and oral consonants. He refers to voiced oral consonants as semi-nasal because they are always prenasalized.

Vowels

The chart below shows Cèmuhî vowels, all of which can contrast in both length and nasality.
FrontCentralBack
Close
Close-mid
Open-mid
Open

Tone

Like its neighbour Paicî, Cèmuhî is one of the few Austronesian languages which have developed contrastive tone. However, unlike other New Caledonian tonal languages, Cèmuhî has three tonal registers: high, mid, and low tones.