Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
West Angal, also known as Angal Heneng or West Mendi, is spoken in two dialects, Wola (Wela) and Augu, near the Nipa patrol post in the central portion of Papua New Guinea's Southern Highlands Province. The more populous of these dialects, Wola, is spoken in the northern parts of the Nembi valley, just west of the Mendi valley, with Augu in the western parts of the Lai Valley to the southwest. The Ethnologue's (Grimes 1974) designation for this language, Angal Heneng, literally means “true talk” (Rule 1965: 98, Franklin 1974, Franklin and Franklin 1978: 83, Tipton 1982: 2.)
Williams (1938-1939: 52-67) grammar notes and large vocabulary of Augu (pronouns reprinted in Capell 1948-1949: 376)
Rule (1965: 98-105) phonological comparison of Wela and Mendi (North Angal)
Franklin (1975: 264-268) 7 West Mendi reflexes of Proto-Engan
Rule (1965: 99-100, ibid.) gives 18 consonants and 7 vowels for Wela as follows:
| m | n | ||
| p | t | tʃ | k |
| b | d | dʒ | g |
| mb | nd | ndʒ | ŋg |
| l | |||
| ɽ | |||
| w | j |
| i | u | |
| ɛ | o | |
| æ | ɑ | ɒ |
Like other Angal languages, Wela allows final consonants; this is where erstwhile final vowels have been dropped, a development which continues the devoicing of final vowels in the Trans-Enga languages to the north (Franklin and Franklin 1978: 85.) Wela is the only Angal-Kewa language known to have preserved the contrast between initials /*p *mb/, which are reflected as /p b/ [pʰ p] respectively.
Unaspirated apical /d/ [t] occurs only initially. The sole example given, /domo/ [tomo] “spirit”, corresponds to Mendi /t/ ([tʰɛmo]) and West Kewa /ɾ/ (/ɾemo/). This is also true of /t/: /tomo/ “poison”, Mendi [tʰomo], West Kewa /ɾomo/ (q.v. Franklin and Franklin 1978: 217 22.) Outcomparison to the more distant Sau Enga /ndamu/ (Draper and Draper 2002: 403) suggests /d/ to reflect Enga-Southern Highlands /*Vnd/. Rule's /g/ does not occur initially, and is realized medially as a uvular lateral affricate [ɢʟ] and finally as voiceless [qʟ̥]. This corresponds to Mendi retroflex lateral flap /ɽ/, as does Wela /ɽ/, and reflects Southern Highlands /*l/; e.g. [maqʟ̥] “four” < /*mala/. Rule assigns the value /g/ “because it is phonetically the most appropriate symbol available, and because it would fill a gap in the phonemic system” (Rule 1965: 104.)
Initial /k/ is itself unaspirated, and reflects prenasalized /*ŋg/, while initial /*k/, given as [h] in Wiliiams' Augu, has apparently been dropped in Wela. From a historical as well as synchronic, if not orthographic, perspective, Rule's initial /k/ is parallel to initial /b/ and is better seen as /g/, while Rule's is at least diachronically an allophone of lateral /ɽ/.
Lateral /l/ is realized as [l] initially and medially and as voiceless fricative [ɬ] finally. Lateral retroflex flap /ɽ/ does not occur initially, and is devoiced to /ɽ̥/ finally.
Williams (1938-1939: 58) gives Augu pronouns in four case forms as follows:
| base | augmented | ergative | possessive | |
| 1 sg. | ni | ni-ri/ni-ndi | ni-man(-di) | na; ni-n(a) |
| 2 sg. | je | je-ri/je-ndi | je-man(-di) | je-n |
| 3 sg. | ŋgo | ŋgo-ri/ŋgo-ndi | ŋgo-man(-di) | ŋgo-n |
| 1 pl. | na | na-ri/na-ndi | na-man(-di) | na-n |
| 2 pl. | aɲi | aɲi-ri/aɲi-ndi | aɲi-man(-di) | aɲi-n |
| 3 pl. | [mi-ndi] | mi-ndi | miɲom(-di) | miɲa-n |
| 1 dl. | ja | ja-ri/ja-ndi | ja-man(-di) | ja-n |
No second or third person dual pronouns are attested.
Rule (1965: 101) gives Wela 2 sg. [ndʒe] (cf. Mendi [ŋge]) to Williams' [je] <ye>, suggesting a difference in dialects or a sound that Williams misheard.
[under construction]
Williams (1938-1939: 61-62) full final paradigms for seven verbs in four tenses, as well as imperative and purposive same subject medial forms.
Williams (1938-1939: 63-64) first person forms for all four tenses and imperative forms.