Cèmuhî (Camuhi, Camuki, Tyamuhi, Wagap) is an Oceanic language spoken on the island of New Caledonia, in the area of Poindimié, Koné, and Touho. The language has approximately 3,300 speakers and is considered a regional language of France.
Cèmuhî was studied by the French linguist .
Phonology Consonants The consonants of Cèmuhî are shown in the table below.
+Consonant phonemes labiovelar labial alveolar palatal velar laryngeal Voiceless stop Prenasalized stop Nasal , Continuant (), ()
Rivierre analyzes the contrasts of Cèmuhî along three emic categories: nasal, semi-nasal (i.e. prenasalized), and oral consonants. He uses the established term "labiovelar" (reproduced in the table) for what can be described more exactly as labial-velarized (protruded) bilabial consonants.
Vowels The chart below shows Cèmuhî vowels, all of which can contrast in length. While all vowels are phonetically nasalized after a nasal consonant, only two nasal vowels are reported to be contrastive: /ɛ̃ ~ ã/ and /õ ~ ũ/.
+Vowels oralnasal front back front back Close ~ Close-mid Open-mid ~ Open
Tone Like its neighbour Paicî, Cèmuhî is one of the few Austronesian languages which have developed contrastive tone. Tonogenesis in New Caledonian languages is hypothesized to have arisen from initial aspirated consonants. In turn these initial aspirated consonants would have arisen from initial geminate consonants, which originated in reduplication.
Unlike other New Caledonian tonal languages, Cèmuhî has three tonal registers: high, mid, and low tones.
See also Northern New Caledonian languages
Notes
Bibliography
External links Audio recordings in the Cèmuhî language, in open access, by Jean-Claude Rivierre (source: Pangloss Collection).