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313 LANGUAGE FILE
Language name Niuean nju��eiən
Language name Nias
Autonym (if known and different)
Autonym (if known and different)
Language family Austronesian Polynesian
Language family Austronesian
Spoken in Niue, New Zealand
Spoken in Indonesia
Approximate number of speakers 11k
Approximate number of speakers
Writing system Roman
Writing system
Phonetics/phonology
Phonetics/phonology
Stress quantity-based system, with antepenultimate default
Stress word-penultimate
Contains following rare
consonant (types)
Contains following rare voiced bilabial trill
consonant (types)
Said to have how many vowels? 5 + length
Said to have how many vowels? 6
Marked vowel types
Marked vowel types back unrounded
Tone none
Tone none
Rhythm no information
Rhythm no information
Vowel harmony none
Vowel harmony none
Morphology agglutinative word-based
Morphology agglutinative word-based
Particular formation types prefix; partial prefixed, partial suffixed and full
reduplication; suffix
Particular formation types infix; prefix; partial prefixed reduplication; suffix;
apophony
Syntax
Word order VSO NA prepositions
PossN and NPoss
Syntax
Word order VOS NA prepositions
NPoss
Particular syntactic phenomena absolutive / ergative marking; inclusive / exclusive
1st plural
Particular syntactic phenomena inclusive / exclusive 1st plural; absolutive / ergative
marking; classifier
Points of interest
Points of interest one of the few languages to allow a voiced bilabial trill
before any vowel
Sources McEwen (1970), Seiter (1980)
Sources Brown (2005)
Nivkh see Gilyak