Kemberano language

Kemberano
Weriagar, Barau
Native toWest Papua, Indonesia
RegionBird's Head Peninsula
Native speakers
(2,500 including Dombano (possibly double counting) cited 1987)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3bzp
Glottologkemb1235
Kemberano
Kemberano
Kemberano
Coordinates: 2°14′S 132°59′E / 2.24°S 132.99°E / -2.24; 132.99

Kemberano is a Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula of West Papua, Indonesia.[2]

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar
Palatal Velar
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p k
prenasal/vd. ᵐb ~ b ⁿ̪d̪ ~ ᵑɡ ~ ɡ
Fricative β ð ɣ
Nasal m n
Flap ɾ
Glide (w) (j)

Prenasal sounds /ᵐb, ⁿ̪d̪, ᵑɡ/ are mostly heard as prenasal in word-initial position and as voiced stops [b, d̪, ɡ] elsewhere.

  • /ᵑɡ ~ ɡ/ can be heard as {{IPA|[ŋ] when the next consonant in a word is /ᵑɡ ~ ɡ/ or /n/.
  • Stop sounds /p, k/ can also be heard as affricated sounds [pᶠ, kˣ] in free variation.
  • Fricatives /β, ð, ɣ/ can also be heard as unarticulated voiced stops [b̚, d̪̚, ɡ̚] when in word-final position.
  • Glides [w, j] occur as a result of vowels /i, u/ when preceding other vowels, or when in intervocalic positions.
Vowels
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e (ə) o
Low a

The five vowels {{IPA|/i, e, a, o, u/} can be heard as [ɪ, ɛ, ɑ, ɔ, ʊ] in unstressed positions. All of them may also be heard as a mid central [ə] in free variation in unstressed positions.

  • /a/ can be heard as [æ] when within the vicinity of /i/.
  • /i/ can be heard as [y] when within the vicinity of /u/.[3]

Morphology

Kemberano nouns are required to have the following concord suffixes:[2]

  • i (masculine nouns)
  • o (feminine nouns)

Examples (from Berry and Berry 1987: 86):

pogi

pig

enat-i

one-M

pogi enat-i

pig one-M

‘one pig’

uroko

stone

enat-o

one-F

uroko enat-o

stone one-F

‘one stone’

References

  1. ^ Kemberano at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian (2018). "The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird's Head". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 569–640. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. ^ Voorhoeve, C. L. (1985). Some Notes on the Arandai Language. Irian XIII. pp. 3–40.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)