Biritai (Biri) is a Lakes Plain language of Papua, Indonesia. It is named after Biri village in East Central Mambermano District, Mamberamo Raya Regency.
Phonology The following inventory is taken from Donohue (2017),Donohue, Mark. (2017) "Introduction to Typology 4: investigating phonological typology" (archived link). Living Tongues Institute, LSA Institute Kentucky, 2017 July 19. with a very small consonant inventory typical of the Lakes Plain languages.
Consonants LabialCoronalStopFricative In an earlier paper co-authored by Donohue, the approximants /j w/ are also included as phonemes. The authors note that Biritai is typologically unusual for missing series of velar, nasal and liquid consonants.
Vowels FrontBackunroundedroundedCloseClose-midOpen-midOpen
Tone Biritai is tonal.
References