Sau
Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Situation
Sau, also known as Samberigi, is an East Southern Highlands language spoken in the Samberigi Valley in the southeast portion of Papua New Guinea's Southern Highlands Province, just north of the Gulf District border. Sau has been influenced by the only distantly-related Folopa to the southeast.
Sources
Lind (1921-1922: 164) 122 comparative terms for Samberigi (Okani)
MacDonald (1973: 131) phonological inventories of Samberigi and Tiri varieties of Sau
Franklin ed. (1973: 591) 100 comparative terms for Sau
Franklin (1974) 16 Sau reflexes of Proto-Engan, reprinted in Franklin and Franklin (1978: 84-85)
Franklin (1975: 264-268) 99 Sau reflexes of proto-Engan
Phonology
MacDonald (1973: 131) suggests the following 12 consonants and 6 vowels for Samberigi:
| m | n | ||
| p | t | s | h |
| mb | nd | ŋk | |
| l | |||
| w | j |
| i | u | |
| e | o | |
| æ | a |
Medial voiceless apical /t/ is realized as [ɾ], which MacDonald sees as a distinct phoneme in the Tiri dialect.
Consonant clusters do not occur.
In addition to the oral vowels, MacDonald records nasalized /ẽ ã/ in Tiri.
Pronouns
Franklin (1975: 264-268, cf. Capell 1948-1949: 376) gives the following personal pronouns for Sau:
| 1 sg. | ĩ |
| 2 sg. | ne-ke |
| 3 sg. | ipi-ki |
| 1 pl. | ni-ki |
| 2 pl. | i-ki |
| 3 pl. | i-ki |
| 1 dl. | di-ki |
| 2 dl. | ipili-ki |
| 3 dl. | ipili-ki |
Franklin's segments would appear to contradict MacDonald's in that Franklin gives <k> where MacDonald recognizes only /h ŋk/ < /*k *ŋg/. The suffix /-ke/ [-ke -ki] can probably be equated with Enga-Southern Highlands /*-ŋge/, such that Franklin's <k> is equal to MacDonald's /ŋk/.
Verbal morphology
Nothing is known about Sau verbal morphology.