Kwomtari language
Kwomtari | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Native to | Papua New Guinea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Native speakers | (600 cited 1998)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Language family | Senu River
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Language codes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ISO 639-3 | kwo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Glottolog | nucl1593 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ELP | Kwomtari | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates: Kwomtari is the eponymous language of the Kwomtari family of Papua New Guinea. Spencer (2008) is a short grammar of Kwomtari. The language has an SOV[clarification needed] constituent order and nominative–accusative alignment. Both subjects and objects are marked suffixally on the verb. Verbs are inflected for status (mood) rather than for tense or aspect.[2] LocationsEthnologue lists Kwomtari as spoken in six villages in Komtari (Kwomtari) ward (3°35′46″S 141°21′42″E / 3.596084°S 141.361577°E / -3.596084; 141.361577 (Kwomtari)), Amanab Rural LLG, Sandaun Province.[3][4] Baron (2007) lists Kwomtari-speaking villages as Mango, Kwomtari, Baiberi, Yenabi, Yau'uri, and Wagroni.[5] Phonology
The phoneme /ɸ/ is realized as a voiced bilabial fricative [β] intervocalically and voiceless bilabial fricative [ɸ] elsewhere. The realization of the phoneme /ɭ/ is in free variation between a voiced retroflex lateral [ɭ] and a voiced retroflex stop [ɖ].
The unusual vowel phonemes /i̞/ and /u̞/ are of intermediate height between cardinal [i]/[u] and [e]/[o] respectively but without the centralization present in [ɪ] and [ʊ]. They have also been attested in Weri, a Goilalan language of south-east Papua, and certain Dani dialects.[9] References
External links
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Major Indigenous languages |
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Other Papuan languages |
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Sign languages |