View source for Kobon language

{{for|the unsolved math problem | Kobon triangle problem}}

{{Short description|Language of Papua New Guinea}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Kobon
| nativename       = 
| states           = [[Papua New Guinea]]
| region           = [[Madang Province]], Middle Ramu District, and [[Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea|Western Highlands Province]] on [[Kaironk River]] in lower [[Jimi River]] area north of [[Mt. Hagen]]
| speakers         = 10,000
| date             = 2007
| ref              = e18
| speakers2        = 4,000 monolinguals (2007?)<!--appeared w this pop date--><ref name=e16>{{e16|kpw}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Papuan
| fam1             = [[Trans–New Guinea]]
| fam2             = [[Madang languages|Madang]]
| fam3             = [[Rai Coast languages|Rai Coast–Kalam]]
| fam4             = [[Kalam languages|Kalam]]
| fam5             = Kalam–Kobon
| iso3             = kpw
| glotto           = kobo1249
| glottorefname    = Kobon
| notice           = IPA
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|[xombon], [k͡xombon], [kʰombon]}}
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]]
}}

'''Kobon''' (pronounced {{IPA|[xombon]}}, {{IPA|[k͡xombon]}} or {{IPA|[kʰombon]}}) is a language of [[Papua New Guinea]]. It has somewhere around 90–120 verbs.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}}

Kobon has a [[pandanus language]], spoken when harvesting [[karuka]].<ref name="Pawley">{{cite book |last1=Pawley |first1=Andrew |authorlink1=Andrew Pawley |editor1-last=Dutton |editor1-first=Tom E. |editor2-last=Ross |editor2-first=Malcolm |editor3-last=Tryon |editor3-first=Darrell |editor2-link=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor3-link=Darrell Tryon |title=The Language Game: Papers in Memory of Donald C. Laycock |date=1992 |publisher=Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University |location=Canberra |isbn=0-85883-400-6 |pages=313–334 |language=English |chapter=Kalam Pandanus Language: An Old New Guinea Experiment in Language Engineering |oclc=222981840 |series=Pacific Linguistics Series C |volume=110 |issn=0078-7558 |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/145788 }}</ref>

==Geographic distribution==
Kobon is spoken in [[Madang Province]] and [[Western Highlands Province]], north of [[Mount Hagen]].

==Phonology==
===Vowels===
Monophthongal vowels are {{IPA|/i e ɨ ə a o u/}}, diphthongs are {{IPA|/ai̯ au̯/}}. {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} may be {{IPA|[jɪ]}} and {{IPA|[wʊ~ʍʊ]}} word-initially. {{IPA|/ɨ/}} ({{IPA|[ɨ~ɯ]}}) is written {{angle bracket|ü}} and {{IPA|/ə/}} ({{IPA|[ɜ~ɘ~ɪ]}}) is written {{angle bracket|ö}}.

Only {{IPA|/i a u/}} and the diphthongs occur word-initially, apart from the quotative particle, which is variably /a~e~o~ö/. {{IPA|/e o/}} occur syllable-initially within a word. All vowels (including the diphthongs) occur syllable-medially (in CVC syllables), syllable-finally and at the ends of words. Many vowel sequences occur, including some with identical vowels.

===Consonants===
Kobon distinguishes an [[alveolar lateral]] {{IPA|/l/}}, a [[palatal lateral]] {{IPA|/ʎ/}}, a subapical [[retroflex lateral flap]] {{IPA|/𝼈&thinsp;/}} ({{IPA|ɭ̆}}&thinsp;), and a [[Alveolar trill#Voiced alveolar raised non-sonorant trill|fricative trill]] {{IPA|/r̝/}}, though the frication on the latter is variable.

{| class="wikitable IPA" style="text-align:center"
|+Kobon consonants and their allophones<ref>Davies (1981: 215 ff)</ref>
|-
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Pharyngeal consonant|Pharyngeal]]
|-
! colspan="2" |Nasal
| m {{angle bracket|m}} || n {{angle bracket|n}} || ɲ {{angle bracket|ñ}} || ŋ {{angle bracket|ŋ}} ||
|-
! rowspan="2" |Obstruent
!<small>lenis</small>
| mb [p~b~mb~mpʰ] {{angle bracket|b}} || nd [tʰ~d~nd~ntʰ] {{angle bracket|d}} || ndʑ [dʑ~ɲdʑ~ɲtɕ] {{angle bracket|j}} || ŋɡ [k~ɡ~ɣ~ŋɡ~ŋkʰ] {{angle bracket|g}} ||
|-
!<small>fortis</small>
| f [f~ɸ~β~v~ʋ~p̚] {{angle bracket|p}} || s {{angle bracket|s}} || tɕ [tɕ~dʑ] {{angle bracket|c}} || x [kʰ~kx~x~ɣ] {{angle bracket|k}} || 
|-
! colspan="2" |Lateral
| || l [l~ɬ] {{angle bracket|l}} || ʎ {{angle bracket|ɫ}} || ||
|-
! colspan="2" |Rhotic
| || r [ɾ̝̊~ɾ̥~ɾ~r̝̊~r̥~r] {{angle bracket|r}} || [[retroflex lateral flap|𝼈]] [ɭ~ɽ~ɽ̊] {{angle bracket|ƚ}} || ||
|-
! colspan="2" |Approximant
| w {{angle bracket|w}} || || j {{angle bracket|y}} || || ħ [h] {{angle bracket|h}}
|}

Voiced obstruents may be prenasalized after vowels, depending on the preceding consonant, and are voiceless word-initially. Liquids other than {{IPA|/ʎ/}} tend toward [[final devoicing]]. For example, final {{IPA|/d/}} is {{IPA|[ntʰ]}} and final {{IPA|/l/}} tends to {{IPA|[ɬ]}}. ({{IPA|/w/}} and {{IPA|/j/}} do not occur in final position, while nasals and {{IPA|/ʎ/}} retain voicing.) Voiceless consonants other than {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/h/}} are optionally voiced between vowels.

{{angle bracket|ƚ}} is sublaminal retroflex. It has been described as a lateral flap, {{IPA|[[Retroflex lateral flap|[𝼈&thinsp;]]]}}.

All consonants occur syllable initially, though {{IPA|/ŋ/}} only occurs word-initially in a single mimetic word. All consonants but {{IPA|/h j w/}} occur syllable- and word-finally. Clusters occur in many (C)VC.CV(C) words, as well as initially in a handful of mostly monosyllabic CCV(C) words. Attested initial clusters are {{IPA|/bɽ, xɽ, fr, xl/}}.

{| class="wikitable IPA"
|+Kobon positional allophones
|-
! !!word-initially!!intervocalically!!word-finally
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|r}}
|ɾ̥~ɾ̝̊
|ɾ~r
|ɾ̥~ɾ̝̊~r̥~r̝̊~ɾ~r
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|ƚ}}
|colspan=2|ɽ
|ɭ~ɽ~ɽ̊
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|l}}
|colspan=2|l
|ɬ~l
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|k}}
|colspan=3|kʰ~k͜x~x<br/>also ɣ intervocalically
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|p}}
|ɸ~f
|β~ʋ<ref>Word medially next to a consonant, {{angbr|p}} is {{IPA|[ɸ]}} or {{IPA|[β]}} depending on the voicing of that consonant.</ref> (occas. v)
|ɸ~p̚
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|c}}
|t͡ɕ
|t͡ɕ~d͡ʑ
|t͡ɕ
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|g}}
|ɡ~k
|ɡ~ɣ, ŋ͡ɡ
|ŋ͡kʰ
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|j}}
|d͡ʑ
|d͡ʑ, ɲ͡d͡ʑ
|ɲ͡t͡ɕ
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|d}}
|d
|d, n͜d
|n͜tʰ (occas. tʰ)
|-align=center
!{{angle bracket|b}}
|b (occas. p)
|b, m͜b
|m͡pʰ
|}

Intervocalically, the lenis obstruents are oral {{IPA|[b d dʑ ɡ~ɣ]}} when a nasal or another lenis obstruent occurs in the preceding syllable, and are prenasalized {{IPA|[mb nd ɲdʑ ŋɡ]}} otherwise, with some variability after {{IPA|/h/}}. They are often oral in a medial cluster after another consonant. Otherwise the allophones in the table above are largely in [[free variation]].

==Writing system==
Kobon has been written in the [[Latin alphabet]] for over 30 years. The special letters [[L with bar|ƚ]] and [[ɫ]] are used for the subapical [[retroflex lateral flap]] and [[palatal lateral approximant|palatal lateral]], respectively.

:''a b c d e g h i j k l ƚ ɫ m n ñ ŋ o ö p r s u ü w y''

5&ndash;15% of Kobon speakers are literate.

==Grammar==
{{Expand section|date=December 2009}}
Kobon is a [[subject–object–verb]] language. Singular, [[dual (grammatical number)|dual]], and plural are distinguished in [[personal pronoun]]s and [[kinship terminology]].

Like the other Kalam languages, Kobon is famous for having a [[Closed class word|closed set]] of very small number of [[verb]]s—perhaps less than 120 for the entire language.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}} These verbs are combined other verbs, in [[serial verb construction]]s, and with [[noun]]s into [[verb phrase|phrases]] with specific meanings, much as one says "have dinner" rather than "dine" in English.

This makes for an interesting window into [[semantics]]. One might expect that with a very limited set of verbs, their meanings would be quite general as ''have, do, be'' and ''go'' are in English. To a certain extent this is really the case, as there is for example only one verb of [[perception]]. That is, the same verb is used for ''see, hear, taste, smell, feel'' (both physically and emotionally), ''think,'' and ''understand'' (compare with "I see" for "I understand" in English). Another verb is used for making sound, whether it's speaking, singing, praying, crying, twigs breaking, rocks clattering, or water gurgling. However, some Kobon verbs are quite specific. There is one exception for ''sound;'' for example, there is a specific verb for calling a pig. There are also three verbs of ''pouring,'' depending on whether the thing being poured is solid, liquid, or food; and there is even a verb that means ''to quarter a [[cassowary]].''

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
*John Davies, 1981. ''Kobon''. ''Lingua'' Descriptive Series 3.
{{Refend}}

{{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}
{{Madang languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobon Language}}
[[Category:Languages of Madang Province]]
[[Category:Languages of Western Highlands Province]]
[[Category:Kalam languages]]
[[Category:Subject–object–verb languages]]
[[Category:Pandanus avoidance registers]]