// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Ewage language say to its student? "You sewage the rules.

Ewage
Notu
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Oro Province
Native speakers	12,000 (2015)
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Binanderean Ewage
Dialects	Ewage-Notu Yega (Gona, Okeina, Okena)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nou
Glottolog	ewag1241

Ewage, also known as Notu, is a Papuan language spoken in the "tail" of Papua New Guinea. Preference for the name depends on the region. Its two dialects are Sose/Sohe (Western Plains Orokaiva) and Ifane/Ihane (Eastern Plains Orokaiva) (Smallhorn 2011:47).

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n	ɲ
Plosive	voiceless		t		k
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ
Affricate	voiced		dz
	prenasal		ⁿdz
Fricative		ɸ	s		ɣ
Rhotic			ɾ
Approximant		w	(l)	j

• /ᵑɡ/ can be pronounced as [ŋ] when in word-medial position.
• /w/ can be pronounced as [β] when before front vowels /i, ɛ/.
• /ɾ/ can be pronounced as [l] or [ɾ] in free variation in all positions.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

References

• Smallhorn, Jacinta Mary. 2011. The Binanderean languages of Papua New Guinea: reconstruction and subgrouping. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.