Kunimaipa language
| Kunimaipa | |
|---|---|
| Region | Papua New Guinea |
| Ethnicity | incl. Biangai |
Native speakers | (14,000 cited 1978–2000)[1] |
Trans-New Guinea
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:kup – Kunimaipawer – Weri + Amambig – Biangai |
| Glottolog | kuni1267 Kunimaipaweri1254 Wericbian1252 Biangai |
Kunimaipa is a Papuan language of New Guinea. The varieties are divergent, on the verge of being distinct languages, and have separate literary traditions.
Phonemes[2][edit]
Consonants[edit]
Below is a chart of Kunimaipa consonants.
| Labial | Coronal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | |
| Fricative | v | s | h | |
| Lateral approximant | l | |||
| Trill | r |
Vowels[edit]
- “ i, e, a, o, and u”
Morphophonemics[3][edit]
Each stem that ends with a has three kinds of allomorphs: a, o, and e. Allomorphs end with a in a word finally or before a syllable with a. It is the most common ending. O ending appears before syllables with o, u, or ai. E ending appears before syllable with e or i. All of above holds true, except the ending syllable before -ma. In the general morphophonemic rule, ending a appears before syllable with a. In the case of -ma, o appears before the syllable with a. For example, the sentence so-ma, meaning ‘I will go.’
Words [4][edit]
Non-suffixed[edit]
Word classes that are usually not suffixed are responses, exclamations, attention particles, vocative particles, conjunctions, names, and particles. Responses are short replies on a conversation; such as, kara 'okay', ee 'yes', gu 'yes', ev 'no'. Exclamations is usually occurs on sentence boundary; such as, auma 'surprise', au 'mistake', maize 'regret', and aip 'dislike'. Attention particles are only used on reported speech; such as, gui 'call to come', ae 'attention getter', and siu 'attention getter -close'. Vocative particles are beginning of addresses in sentence boundary; such as, engarim 'hey, woman', erom 'hey, man', engarohol 'hey, children', and guai 'uncle'. Conjunctions are links in "phrases, clauses, and sentences"; such as, mete 'and, but, then', ma 'or, and', povoza 'therefore', and ong 'but, then'. Names label person, place, days, and months; such as, made-ta-ka, 'on Monday', and pode-ta-ka, 'on Thursday'. Lastly, one particles that is used in introducing a quote is never suffixed, pata meaning 'reply'.
Suffixed or non-suffixed[edit]
Word classes including adjectives, pronouns, interrogative words, nouns, and verbs can be suffixed or non-suffixed depending on the meaning and usage. Some example of adjectives in Kunimaipa are tina 'good', goe 'small', and hori 'bad'. The Kunimaipa language has 7 pronouns, including ne, ni, pi, rei, rari, aru, and paru. Example of od interrogative words are taira and tai meaning 'what'. Noun is a large word class including words such as abana 'men', abanaro 'young men', no nai nai 'everything', and mapo 'all'.
Not Classified According to suffixation[edit]
The word classes that cannot be classified by suffixation are locations, temporals, adverbs, and auxiliaries.
References[edit]
- ^ Kunimaipa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Weri + Amam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Biangai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Geary, Elaine (1977). Kunimaipa grammar: morphonemics to discourse. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
- ^ Geary, Elaine (1977). Kunimaipa grammar: morphonemics to discourse. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
- ^ Geary, Elaine (1977). Kunimaipa grammar: morphonemics to discourse. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Further reading[edit]
- Aki, Mambu; Pennington, Ryan (2013). "Tentative Grammar Description".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - Boxwel, Maurice (1992). "Organised Phonology Data" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-23. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - Dobrin, Lisa. n.d. Noun classification in Weri. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia.