South Angal

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

South Angal, also known as Angal Enen, Nembi, Magi (Megi) or South Mendi, is spoken by anywhere from 12,000 to 22,000 people (1982) living in the Nembi Valley and on the Nembi Plateau in the central portion of Papua New Guinea's Southern Highlands Province. Angal Enen means literally “true talk” (Franklin 1974, Franklin and Franklin 1978: 82-83, Tipton 1982: 1-2.)

Franklin (1975: 264-268) 2 South Mendi reflexes of Proto-Engan

Tipton (1982) Nembi discourse grammar

Tipton (1982: 76-77) gives the following 15 consonants and 7 vowels for Nembi:

Additionally, there are five diphthongs, /ei ai au oe ui/.

Like other Angal languages, Nembi 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.)

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Tipton (1982: 78-81) gives 11 indicative paradigms for Nembi final verbs in two classes as follows:

Imperatives are given for only the second person, and draw no distinction between plural and dual: