{{Short description|Ndu language of Papua New Guinea}} {{Infobox language |name=Boiken |states=Papua New Guinea |region=Sepik River basin |speakers={{sigfig|35,000|2}} |date=2004 |ref=e25 |familycolor=Papuan |fam1=Sepik |fam2=Middle Sepik |fam3=Ndu |iso3=bzf |glotto=boik1241 |glottorefname=Boikin }}
'''Boiken''' (Nucum, Yangoru) is one of the more populous of the Ndu languages of Sepik River region of northern Papua New Guinea. It is spoken around Boiken Creek in Yangoru-Saussia District, East Sepik Province and adjacent islands off the north coast of northern Papua New Guinea.<ref name=e25/>
==Phonology== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Boiken consonants<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Freudenburg |first=Allen & Marlene |title=Boiken phonemes |publisher=Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics |year=1974 |location=In Richard Loving (ed.), Phonologies of four Papua New Guinea languages |pages=97–127}}</ref> ! colspan="2" | ! Labial ! Dental ! Alveolar ! Dorsal !Glottal |- ! colspan="2" | Nasal | {{IPA link|m}} | {{IPA link|n̪}} | {{IPA link|n}} | ({{IPA link|ŋ}}) | |- ! colspan="2" | Stop | {{IPA link|p}} | | {{IPA link|t}} | {{IPA link|k}} | ({{IPA link|ʔ}}) |- ! colspan="2" |Affricate | | {{IPA link|t̪s̪}} | | | |- ! rowspan="2" | Fricative !<small>voiceless</small> | {{IPA link|ɸ}} | | {{IPA link|s}} | {{IPA link|x}} | |- !<small>voiced</small> | | | |{{IPA link|ɣ}} | |- ! colspan="2" | Approximant | {{IPA link|w}} | {{IPA link|l̪}} | | {{IPA link|j}} | |- ! colspan="2" | Trill | | | {{IPA link|r}} | | |- ! colspan="2" | Flap | | | {{IPA link|ɺ}} | | |}
* Stop sounds /p, t̪s̪, t, k/ are heard as voiced [b, d̪z̪, d, ɡ] when following a nasal counterpart. * /k/ has an allophone of a glottal [ʔ] in word-final position, or when preceding a consonant in word-medial position. * Sounds /ɸ, s, x/ can be voiced as [β, z, ɣ] in intervocalic positions. * /n/ is heard as [ŋ] when preceding velar consonants, or freely in word-final position. * /r/ can be heard as a voiceless trill [r̥] in word-initial positions.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+Boiken vowels<ref name=":0" /> ! !Front !Central !Back |- !Close | align="center" |{{IPA link|i}} |{{IPA link|ɨ}} |{{IPA link|u}} |- !Mid |{{IPA link|e}} |{{IPA link|ə}} |{{IPA link|o}} |- !Open |{{IPA link|æ}} |{{IPA link|a}} |{{IPA link|ɒ}} |}
* /ɨ, ə/ have allophones of [ɪ, ɛ] when following dental and alveolar sounds. * /u/ has an allophone of [ʊ] when preceding /k/ heard as a glottal [ʔ] in word-medial and word-final positions. * /o/ has an allophone of [ɔ] when following labial and velar sounds.
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * Paradisec houses two collections of Arthur Capell's materials that include Boiken ([http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/AC1 AC1] and [http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/AC2 AC2]) as well as notes from Don Laycock's work ([http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/DL2 DL2]) all of these collections are open access. {{Sepik languages}} {{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}
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Category:Languages of East Sepik Province Category:Ndu languages
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