Kunimaipa language

{{Short description|Goilalan language spoken in Papua New Guinea}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Kunimaipa

| region = Papua New Guinea

| ethnicity = incl. Biangai

| speakers = 14,000

| date = 1978–2000

| ref = e18

| familycolor = Papuan

| fam1 = Trans-New Guinea

| fam2 = Goilalan

| fam3 = Kunimaipa

| lc1 = kup

| ld1 = Kunimaipa

| lc2 = wer

| ld2 = Weri + Amam

| lc3 = big

| ld3 = Biangai

| glotto = kuni1267

| glottoname = Kunimaipa

| glotto2 = weri1254

| glottoname2 = Weric

| glotto3 = bian1252

| glottoname3 = 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.

[[Phoneme]]s

Source:Geary, Elaine (1977). Kunimaipa grammar: morphonemics to discourse. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

=[[Consonant]]s=

Below is a chart of Kunimaipa consonants.

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|+Table of consonant phonemes of Kunimaipa

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!Nasal

|ŋ

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!Plosive

|p b

|t d

|k g

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!Fricative

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!Lateral approximant

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!Trill

=[[Vowel]]s=

“ i, e, a, o, and u”

[[Morphophonology|Morphophonemics]]

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 an 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.’Geary, Elaine (1977). Kunimaipa grammar: morphonemics to discourse. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Words

Source:Geary, Elaine (1977). Kunimaipa grammar: morphonemics to discourse. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

= Non-[[suffix]]ed=

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 =

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 =

The word classes that cannot be classified by suffixation are locations, temporals, adverbs, and auxiliaries.

Kunimaipa language

[[Phoneme]]s

=[[Consonant]]s=

=[[Vowel]]s=

[[Morphophonology|Morphophonemics]]

Words

= Non-[[suffix]]ed=

= Suffixed or non-suffixed =

= Not Classified According to suffixation =

References

Further reading