Boazi (Bwadji), also known as Kuni after one of its dialects, is a Papuan language spoken in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea by the Bwadji people in the vicinity of Lake Murray and is written using the Latin script, with for , for , and for (relatively infrequent) vowel length. Some recordings of songs and stories have been made in this language.
Phonology +ConsonantsLabialAlveolarVelarUvularPlosivevoicelessprenasalvoicedFricativevoicelessvoicedNasalLiquid ~
/l/ can fluctuate as sounds [l ~ d ~ ɾ]. Sounds [ɾ] and [d] are more common in word-medial positions. /q/ may also be heard as a retracted velar plosive [k̠] in free variation. /ᶰq/ can also be heard as a prenasal velar fricative [ᵑɣ] in free variation. Sounds /s, z/ tend to become alveolo-palatal [ɕ, ʑ] when in the environment of a high vowel. Sounds /v, z/ tend to be devoiced [v̥, z̥] in word-final positions. /f/ may be heard in free fluctuation with [θ] within the environment of a high vowel.
+VowelsFrontCentralBackHighHigh-midLow-midLow
Further reading Drabbe, Petrus. 1954. Talen en dialecten van zuid-west Nieuw-Guinea [Languages and Dialects of Southwest New Guinea]. Posieux/Fribourg: Instituut Anthropos. Edwards-Fumey, Deborah. 2006. The verb subject prefix in Kuni. MA thesis: Universität Bern.
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