Teop

A language of Papua New Guinea

ISO 639: tio
Alternate Names: Teapu, Tiop
Population: 6,000 (Mosel 2015).
Location:: Bougainville province: Tinputz district, northeast.
Language Status: 6b (Threatened).
Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Western Oceanic, Meso Melanesian, New Ireland, South New Ireland-Northwest Solomonic, Nehan-North Bougainville, Saposa-Tinputz
Dialects: Taunita, Coastal Teop, Rausara (Rausiara), Kosina Mohina, Manava. Coastal Teop speakers understand other dialects, and vice versa. Lexical similarity: Coastal Teop 84% with Rausara, 73% with Taunita dialects.
Typology: SVO; 3 noun classes.
Language Use: Some dislike borrowed words entering Teop. Home. Some young people, all adults. Positive attitudes. All also use Tok Pisin [tpi] (Mosel 2015). Used as L2 by Papapana [ppn].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: Low. Literacy rate in L2: High. Taught in primary schools, 3 years in some schools. Dictionary. Texts. Bible portions: 1958–1966.
Language Resources: OLAC resources in and about Teop
Writing: Latin script [Latn].
Other Comments: Christian.

Location: Bougainville province: Tinputz district, northeast.