Melpa language
| Melpa | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Mount Hagen District, Western Highlands Province |
Native speakers | (130,000 cited 1991) |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | med |
| Glottolog | melp1238 |
Melpa (Medlpa, Mbowamb) is a Papuan language spoken by about 130,000 people predominantly in Mount Hagen and the surrounding district of Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.
Melpa is a Pandanus language used during karuka harvest. Melpa has a voiceless velar lateral fricative, written as a double-barred el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). Melpa is notable for its binary counting system. A dictionary of Melpa has been compiled by Stewart, Strathern and Trantow (2011).