Mesem language

Mesem (Mesẽ) is a Papuan language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.

Mesem
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Huon Peninsula, Morobe Province
Native speakers	(4,000 cited 1997 census)
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Finisterre–Huon Huon Western Huon Mesem
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mci
Glottolog	mese1244

Names

The alternate names for Mesem are Mese, Momalili, and Momolili.

Phonology

Consonants

The table below shows Mesem's consonantal phonemes:

	Bilabial		Alveolar		Velar
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Plosive	p	b	t	d	k	ɡ
Fricative	s, z
Approximant	j
Lateral approximant	l

The language also has /w/, which is a voiced labio-velar fricative, not an approximant.

Vowel

The table below shows Mesem's vowel phonemes:

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ʉ	o
Open		a

Orthography

Mesem alphabet

a

ã

b

d

e

ẽ

g

i

ĩ

k

l

m

n

ng

o

õ

p

s

t

u

ũ

ʉ

ʉ̃

w

y

z