// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Waima language say to its student? "You're speaking my tongue.

Waima
Region	Eastern New Guinea
Native speakers	(15,000 cited 2000 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic Papuan Tip Central Papuan Tip West Central Nuclear West Central Waima
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rro
Glottolog	waim1251

The Waima language (sometimes known as Roro, though this is strictly the name of one dialect of Waima) is a Nuclear West Central Papuan Tip language of the Oceanic group of Malayo-Polynesian languages, spoken in Papua New Guinea by 15,000 people. The three dialects, Waima, Roro, and Paitana, are very close.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p	t tʲ	k	ʔ
Fricative	β			h
Rhotic		ɾ
Approximant	w

/n/ can be palatalized as [ɲ] when before vowel sequences /ao, au/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

External links

• Waima Grammar Essentials
• Waima Organized Phonology Data