Iyo
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A language of Papua New Guinea
6,900 (Minter 2009).
Madang province: Finisterre mountains’ south slopes along Nahu and Bure rivers; north slopes along Kipuro and Kasang rivers; Morobe province: northwest Markham district.
5 (Developing).
SOV; Noun Classes: 2 (Possession, Person); Number: Singular, Dual, and Plural; Agglutinative morphology; Verb affixation marks person, number, object, tense, and aspect; Tenses: 4 (Remote Past, Past, Present, Future), Aspects: 6 (Continuative, Completive, Durative, Habitual, Perfective, Inceptive); Consonants: 17, Vowels: 5 (Minter 2009).
Very stable on the inland side of the Finisterres because of isolation. On the coastal side, with more cross-language interaction, there is much more admixture with Tok Pisin [tpi]. All domains except church, where there is mixed use with Tok Pisin [tpi], and in interactions with outsiders. Used by all. Positive attitudes. Many also use Tok Pisin [tpi], especially men and young people (Minter 2009).
Literacy rate in L1: Low. Literacy rate in L2: High. One vernacular preschool. All other vernacular preschools stopped operating in 2010. One elementary school spends a small amount of time on vernacular literacy, but there aren’t enough vernacular literacy materials and teaching for widespread L1 literacy. Literature. Texts. NT: 2009.