Likum language

Likum
Likum
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	westernmost Manus Island, Manus Province
Native speakers	(80 cited 2000)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Admiralty Islands Eastern Admiralty Islands Manus West Manus Likum; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lib
Glottolog	liku1243
ELP	Likum
	Likum is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

The Likum language is a West Manus language spoken by approximately 80 people in western Manus Island, Manus Province of Papua New Guinea.^[1] Its speakers also use Nyindrou.^[1] Likum is classified as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.^[2] It has SVO word order.^[1]

Phonology

Consonants^[3]
		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/Affricate	Voiceless	p	t	c^[a]	k	ʔ
	Labialized	pʷ
	Voiced	(b)	(d)~ⁿr^[b] ⟨dr⟩	j^[a]	(g)
	Voiced labialized	(bʷ)			(gʷ)
Nasal	Plain	m	n	ɲ
Nasal	Labialized	mʷ
Fricative			s			h
Trill			r
Approximant		w		j ⟨y⟩

1 2 Blust describes ⟨c⟩ and ⟨j⟩ as palatal affricates, using ⟨y⟩ for /j/.^[4]
↑ Blust says the evidence for /d/ is weak and considers it a variant of ⟨dr⟩, which he describes as a prenasalized alveolar trill.^[4]

Personal pronouns in Likum have grammatical number and clusivity.

Personal pronouns^[5]
	Singular	Dual	Trial	Plural
1st, incl.	je	teru	tocetulumow	to
1st, excl.	je	eru	etucetulumow	etu
2nd	ow	ah	etocetulumow	eto
3rd	iy	neru	drocetulumow	dro

Blust, Robert (2021). "Likum". Language & Linguistics in Melanesia (Special Issue 2021: Eight Languages of the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea). Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2026.