Mpur language


Mpur, is a language isolate spoken in and around Mpur and Amberbaken Districts in Tambrauw Regency of the Bird's Head Peninsula, New Guinea. It is not closely related to any other language, and though Ross tentatively assigned it to the West Papuan languages, based on similarities in pronouns, Palmer, Ethnologue, and Glottolog list it as a language isolate.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in Mpur are:

Vowels

Mpur has five vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/.

Tones

Mpur has a complex tonal system with 4 lexical tones and an additional contour tone, a compound of two of the lexical tones. Its tonal system is somewhat similar to the nearby Austronesian languages of Mor and Ma'ya. The neighboring language isolate Abun is also tonal.
Mpur has four lexical tones. There is also a fifth complex contour tone formed as a phonetic compound of two lexical tones. An example minimal set is given below.