| Description:
I’saka is the language spoken by the people of the villages of Krisa and Pasi in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. It has also been referred to as Krisa, after the village, although this name is not actually a possible word in the language itself. The sole published source for the language is Donohue and San Roque (2004) (see references), although the authors of this have also Identified I’saka material in Donald Laycock's unpublished fieldnotes.
Apart from segmental phonemes, I’saka and also make suprasegmental distinctions in tone and nasality.
There are the following consonants in I’saka:
The segments p, ɸ and occasionally f are heard in non-contrastive free variation, making them reflexes of a single phoneme (transcribed p). Donohue and San Roque (2004) suggest that there was an earlier phonemic or allophonic contrast which is in the process of merging, perhaps under the influence of neighboring languages and Tok Pisin.
There are five vowel phonemes distinguished by most speakers, although older speakers sometimes also distinguish a high central rounded vowel ʉ
The tone system makes four pitch contrasts on single syllables, High tone, Low tone, Rising tone and Falling tone...... full article at Wikipedia |
