Golin language


Golin is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea.

Phonology

Vowels

s that occur are. The consonants can also be syllabic.

Consonant

are treated as single consonants by Bunn & Bunn, but as combinations of +, + by Evans et al..
Two consonants appear to allow free variation in their realisations: varies with, and with.
assimilates to before and.

Tone

Golin is a tonal language, distinguishing high, mid, and low tone. The high tone is marked by an acute accent and the low tone by a grave accent, while the mid tone is left unmarked. Examples:
  • High: mú 'type of snake'; wí 'scream '
  • Mid: mu 'type of bamboo'; wi 'coming from the same ethnic group'
  • Low: mù 'sound of river'; wì 'cut '

    Pronouns

Golin is notable for having a small pronominal paradigm. There are two basic pronouns:
  • ná first person
  • í second person
There is no number distinction and no true third person pronoun. Third person pronouns in Golin are in fact compounds derived from 'man' plus inín 'self':
  • yalíni 'he' < yál 'man' + inín 'self'
  • abalíni 'she' < abál 'woman' + inín 'self'