Bukawa (also known as Bukaua, Kawac, Bugawac, Gawac) is an Austronesian language spoken by about 10,000 people (in 1978) on the coast of the Huon Gulf, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The most common spelling of the name in both community and government usage is Bukawa (Eckermann 2007:1), even though it comes from the Yabem language, which served as a church and school lingua franca in the coastal areas around the Gulf for most of the 20th century.