Bukiyip (Bukiyúp), or Mountain Arapesh, is an Arapesh language (Torricelli)[1] spoken by around 16,000 people between Yangoru and Maprik[2] in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea.

[1] The Arapesh languages are known for their complex noun-phrase agreement system (Bukiyip has 18 of these noun classes).

written as: p, t, k, b, d, g, s, ch, j, h, m, n, ny, l, r, w, y[4] Initial vowels clusters: ou, au, ai, ia Medial vowel clusters: e (a,o,i,u), a (u,e,i), i (é,a,e), o (u,i), uu, úo Final vowel clusters: eo, ou, uu written as: i, e, a, o, u, æ, é, ú[4] Bukiyip has 18 basic rules for morphophonemic shifts (rules 8-18 primarily apply to the Chamaun-Yabonuh and Buki dialects).

[4] The above rules use the following abbreviations: Vr - rounded vowels Vc - central unrounded vowels Vu - unrounded vowels Vf - front vowels C - consonant Calv - alveopalatal consonants Cr - rounded consonants # - morpheme boundary in phonological word There are 18 noun classes with a closed set of suffixes of the form: noun nucleus + number (-unú).

Adjectives consist of a root word followed by the appropriate noun-class suffix (see the noun class table).

All adverbs are inflected, and may have free or bound stems depending on which modifier slot they are placed in the clausal, phrase, or sentence syntax.

These numeral prefixes are added to noun root words and then undergo a morphological process (see the Morphophonemics section) that combines them.

[4] For example: atú + -p + utom → atum → otum or bia + -ch + batowich → biech The numeral root 'nobati-' (four) is an exception to this assimilation pattern.

In addition to the atú- and bia- numeral roots, there is also a stem éné- meaning one, an, or some depending on context.

Limiter Phrase: Head (adverb, demonstrative, modified noun phrase, noun stem, pronoun) + Limiter (at- + <únú>, ati) 11.