Skou (Sekol, Sekou, Sko, Skouw, Skow, Sukou), or Tumawo (Te Mawo), is a Papuan language of Indonesia.
Distribution Skou is spoken in three villages of , Jayapura City. The villages are:Donohue, Mark. 2004. A Grammar of the Skou language of New Guinea. Singapore: National University of Singapore. Available at .
(Skou name: Te Tángpe), the westernmost and most populous Skou village (Skou name: Te Máwo), located between Skou Yambe and Skou Sae villages (Skou name: Te Bapúbi), the easternmost and least populous Skou village
Phonology Consonants The Skou consonants are: Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal Plosive ~ Fricative Liquid Semivowel
Vowels Vowels can be nasalized, except for /ɨ/ and /u/.
Front Central Back Close Mid Open
Tone Skou contrasts three different tones in monosyllables: high, low and falling, which can be combined with nasality for a six-way contrast. +PitchOral Nasalhigh [˥]ta 'grass'tã
'bird'low [˨]ta 'hair'tã
'canoe'falling [˥˩]ta 'arrow'tã
'machete' Tone in Skou is affiliated with each word, rather than with each syllable.
In addition to lexical differences in tone, tone has grammatical functions.
For instance, tense in Skou is differentiated by tone. +non-past tense forms[ni hu] falling-falling 'I sew'[ni ha] falling-high 'I stand'[ni hũ] falling-low 'I drink'past tense forms[ni hu] falling-low 'I sewed'[ni ha] falling-low 'I stood'[ni hũ]
falling-low
'I drank'
Pronouns Skou differentiates three types of pronouns: free pronouns, genitive pronouns and dative pronouns. + PronounsFreeGenitiveDative[ni˥˩][ni˥˩][nɛ˨][nɛ˨][nɛ˥˩][nɛ˨][mɛ˥˩][mɛ˥˩][mɛ˨][ɛ˨][ɛ˥˩][ɛ˨].[kɛ˨][kɛ˥][kɛ˨].[pɛ˨][pɛ˥˩][pɛ˨][tɛ˨][tɛ˥˩][tɛ˨]
References
Donohue, Mark. 2004. A Grammar of the Skou language of New Guinea. Singapore: National University of Singapore. Available at .