Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 9, 2026

Dano language

Dano is a Papuan language spoken by about 30,000 people in Upper Asaro Rural LLG, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

Last revised
Jul 9, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
171 w
Citations
3
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Dano
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionGoroka District, Eastern Highlands Province
Native speakers
(30,000 cited 1987)1
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3aso
Glottologdano1240

Dano (Upper Asaro) is a Papuan language spoken by about 30,000 people in Upper Asaro Rural LLG, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Dorsal Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless (ɸ) s h
voiced β z ɣ
Nasal m n
Approximant l (j)
Flap (ɺ)
  • /z, h/ can be pronounced as either [j, ɸ].
  • /β, ɣ/ can be palatalized [ʲ] when before back vowels.
  • /l/ can also commonly be heard as an alveolar flap [ɺ].
  • /ⁿd/ can also be heard as a prenasal dental [ⁿ̪d̪].23
Vowels
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a
References

References

  1. Dano at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Strange, David (April 1992). Upper Asaro (Dano) Language [ASO]. Organised Phonology Data: SIL.
  3. Strange, David (1973). Indicative and Subjunctive in Upper Asaro. Linguistics, Vol. 11, No. 110: De Gruyter, Mouton. pp. 82–97.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)