Login
Login

Ambai language

{{Short description|Austronesian language}}

{{Infobox language

|name = Ambai

|nativename =

|states = Indonesia

|region = Ambai Islands

|speakers = {{sigfig|10,100|3}}

|date = 2000

|ref=e18

|familycolor = Austronesian

|fam2=Malayo-Polynesian

|fam3=Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian

|fam4=Eastern Malayo-Polynesian

|fam5=South Halmahera–West New Guinea

|fam6 = Cenderawasih Bay

|fam7 = Yapen

|fam8 = Central–Western

|iso3 = amk

|glotto=amba1265

|glottorefname=Ambai

}}

The Ambai language is an Austronesian language spoken in Indonesian New Guinea (Papua Province), mostly on the Ambai Islands as well as the southern part of Yapen Island.{{cite web|url=http://papuaweb.org/bib/hays/loc/AMBAI.pdf|title=AMBAI|format=PDF|publisher=PapuaWeb|access-date=May 30, 2016|archive-date=October 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017021534/http://www.papuaweb.org/bib/hays/loc/AMBAI.pdf|url-status=dead}} The number of speakers is estimated to be 10,000. Dialects are Randawaya, Ambai (Wadapi-Laut), and Manawi.{{cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/PG/languages |title=Papua New Guinea languages |work=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |edition=22nd |editor1-last=Eberhard |editor1-first=David M. |editor2-last=Simons |editor2-first=Gary F. |editor3-last=Fennig |editor3-first=Charles D. |date=2019 |location=Dallas |publisher=SIL International}}

Phonology

Ambai has 19 consonants and 6 vowels, shown on the tables below.

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|+ Consonants

BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarLaryngeal
Plosive

| {{IPA link|p}}  {{IPA link|b}} || {{IPA link|t}}  {{IPA link|d}}|| ||{{IPA link|k}}  {{IPA link|ɡ}} ||

Nasal

| {{IPA link|m}} || {{IPA link|n}}|| || {{IPA link|ŋ}} ||

Trill

| || {{IPA link|r}} || || ||

Fricative

| {{IPA link|ɸ}} || {{IPA link|s}} || {{IPA link|ç}}  {{IPA link|ʝ}} || ||{{IPA link|ħ}}/{{IPA link|h}}

Approximant

| {{IPA link|w}}|| || {{IPA link|j}} || ||

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|+ Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Close

| {{IPA link|i}} || || {{IPA link|u}}

Mid

| {{IPA link|ɛ}} || {{IPA link|ə}}|| {{IPA link|ɔ}}

Open

| || {{IPA link|a}} ||

Morphology

=Pronouns=

All pronouns in Ambai mark for number, person and clusivity (in first person).

The following bound pronouns are obligatorily added as affixes to the verb to stand as the subject of the sentence. Every verb in Ambai takes a subject, even if it is a 'dummy' third-person pronoun.

class="wikitable"

|+ Bound Pronouns

colspan="2" |

! Singular

! Dual

! Trial

! Plural

rowspan="2" | 1st person

! {{small|exclusive}}

| rowspan="2" | {{lang|amk|i-/dj-}}

| {{lang|amk|au(r)-}}

| {{lang|amk|anto(r)-}}

| {{lang|amk|ame(r)-}}

{{small|inclusive}}

| {{lang|amk|tu(r)-}}

| {{lang|amk|to(r)-}}

| {{lang|amk|ta(r)-}}

colspan="2" | 2nd person

| {{lang|amk|b-}}

| {{lang|amk|mu(r)-}}

| {{lang|amk|munto(r)-}}

| {{lang|amk|me(r)-}}

colspan="2" | 3rd person

| {{lang|amk|d-}}

| {{lang|amk|u(r)-}}

| {{lang|amk|co(r)-}}

| {{lang|amk|e(r)-}}

The following pronouns are independent and are more restricted in use. They do not appear as subjects – since the subject is marked already on the verb – but can appear as objects, in prepositional phrases and in subordinate clauses. Some verbs allow the object pronoun to be omitted.

class="wikitable"

|+ Free Pronouns

colspan="2" |

! Singular

! Dual

! Trial

! Plural

rowspan="2" | 1st person

! {{small|exclusive}}

| rowspan="2" | {{lang|amk|jau}}

| {{lang|amk|auru}}

| {{lang|amk|antoru}}

| {{lang|amk|amea}}

{{small|inclusive}}

| {{lang|amk|turu}}

| {{lang|amk|totoro}}

| {{lang|amk|tata}}

colspan="2" | 2nd person

| {{lang|amk|wau}}

| {{lang|amk|muru}}

| {{lang|amk|muntoro}}

| {{lang|amk|mea}}

colspan="2" | 3rd person

| {{lang|amk|i}}

| {{lang|amk|uru}}

| {{lang|amk|coru}}

| {{lang|amk|ea}}

Examples of pronouns used in everyday language:

{{interlinear|lang=amk|number=(1)

|b-oti suru

|2SG-see 3DU.OBJ

|'Look at them (two).'}}

{{interlinear|lang=amk|number=(2)

|uru u-minohi

|3DU 3DU-sit

|'They sit.'}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

External links

  • [http://ambai.digitalwords.net The Ambai Language Documentation Page]
  • [http://ambai.digitalwords.net/grammar/ambai_description_ariel_gutman.pdf A Short Description of Ambai Grammar, by Ariel Gutman]
  • [http://ambai.digitalwords.net/grammar/AmbaiSketch_Fannie.pdf A Grammar Sketch of Ambai, by Fannie St-Pierre-Tanguay]

{{Halmahera–Cenderawasih languages}}

{{Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages}}

{{Languages of Indonesia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambai Language}}

Category:South Halmahera–West New Guinea languages

Category:Languages of Western New Guinea

Category:Ambai Islands

Category:Cenderawasih Bay

Category:Papua (province) culture