Maisin | |
---|---|
Region | Oro Province, Papua New Guinea |
Ethnicity | Maisin people |
Native speakers
|
2,600 (2000 census) |
Austronesian or Papuan.
|
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
|
Glottolog | mais1250 |
Maisin (or Maisan) is a language of Papua New Guinea with both Austronesian and Papuan features. The Austronesian elements are those of the Nuclear Papuan Tip languages. The Papuan element is Binanderean or Dagan. It is spoken by the Maisin people of Oro Province.
[ŋ] and [kʷ] are not phonemic, but are distinguished in the orthography.
Syllables can begin and end with up to one consonant each. I.e., English wrong /rɔŋ/ would be an acceptable word, but strength /streŋθ/ would not. Words can only end in either a vowel or [ŋ]. The vowels /u/ and /o/ never occur word-initially. /β/ never occurs before /o/ or /u/.
Literacy varies from 20% to 80% in different areas.