Tauya (also Inafosa) is a Rai Coast language spoken in the Ramu River valley, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea by approximately 350 people. The Linguistics Department at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, has Tauya language resources.

Classification

Tauya is closely genetically related to the Biyom Language and is grouped with Tauya in the Rai Coast subgroup. The two languages relate although Biyom is spoken higher up the mountains as they border close to each other and have been found to have some similarities in diction such as the word kaŋgora meaning initiate which was directly borrowed from the Biyom Language. From this it is known that the two languages have had frequent communication as well as intermarriage between the societies.

Phonology

Consonants

In Tauya, four of the consonants r, k, kʷ,ʔʷ have restrictions to specific parts of word structure. r occurs in the word-medial position of words in the language and k, kʷ occur mostly in the word-initial position. ʔʷ is restricted to the morpheme- initial position.

Vowels

Tauya has five vowels similar to most languages in Papua New Guinea. e vowel follows many linguistic rules of increasing argument from a lesser clause to a main one. The vowel may change in sound to a sound that is near by, and rounds the lips when in a word. Tauya allows for the diphthongs ai, au, ae, ao, ou, oi (although oi is rare).

Grammar

Typology

Tauya is considered a SOV order language as sentences end strictly with a verb. Some exceptions do exist as some are derivative to the SOV and use the verb to carry the meaning. The Tauya language is a suffixing one and in arguments it is verb agreement is primarily used and case marking is secondarily used. Verb agreement is used to mark singular or plural in arguments. Medial verbs are used to mark subject of a medial clause that is different or the same from verbs in a clause with a relationship to a following clause.

Syllables

Tauya syllable structure consists of an onset consonant of (C)V(V). In plural forms of personal pronouns consonants are the final in morphemes, these ones all have a consonant ending of n as seen in sen. The use of consonant in the ending word is followed by a vowel initial in transitive verbs, impersonal verbs and inalienable nouns. Using them to mark objects, experiencers, and possessors inflecting with ~pi suffix.

Nouns

Consist of personal pronouns, deictic pronouns and full nouns as classes of nouns.

Personal pronouns

Differentiated by person and only two numbers occurring in various cases, such as the unmarked absolutive case. Using third person singular, ne personal pronouns can occur with proclitics on transitive or impersonal verbs for marking objects or experiencers and inalienable nouns for possessors. Third person singular is used independently while in inalienable nouns third person objects, experiencers, and possessors are unmarked.