Retained and Introduced Final Consonants in Vitu

In this article we present data on final consonants in Vitu, a Western Oceanic language spoken in West New Britain (PNG). Although Vitu has as a rule lost Proto-Oceanic final consonants, we show that such consonants still emerge in nouns that are inalienably possessed. Surprisingly, a number of nouns that ended in a vowel in Proto-Oceanic also show a final consonant in Vitu. The reason for the introduction of these consonants is unclear.