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Abstract:
Rotokas is famous for possessing one of the worlds smallest phoneme inventories.
According to one source, the Central dialect of Rotokas possesses only 11
segmental phonemes (five vowels and six consonants) and lacks nasals while the
Aita dialect possesses a similar-sized inventory in which nasals replace voiced
stops. However, recent fieldwork reveals that the Aita dialect has, in fact, both
voiced and nasal stops, making for an inventory of 14 segmental phonemes (five
vowels and nine consonants). The correspondences between Central and Aita
Rotokas suggest that the former is innovative with respect to its consonant inventory
and the latter conservative, and that the small inventory of Central Rotokas
arose by collapsing the distinction between voiced and nasal stops.
