Karkar language
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Distinguish".Template:Cleanup langScript error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Template:GeoGroup
The Karkar language, also known as Yuri, is the sole Eastern Pauwasi language of Papua New Guinea. There are about a thousand speakers along the Indonesian border spoken in Green River Rural LLG, Sandaun Province.
Classification
Karkar-Yuri is not related to any other language in Papua New Guinea, and was therefore long thought to be a language isolate. This is the position of Wurm (1983), Foley (1986), and Ross (2005). However, Timothy Usher noticed that it is transparently related to the Pauwasi languages across the border in Indonesia. Indeed, it may even form a dialect continuum with the Eastern Pauwasi language Emem. This was foreshadowed in non-linguistic literature: a 1940 map shows the 'Enam' (Emem)–speaking area as including the Karkar territory in PNG, and the anthropologist Hanns Peter knew that the Karkar dialect continuum continued across the border into Emem territory.[1]
Pauwasi cognates
Cognates between Karkar-Yuri and the Pauwasi family (Tebi and Zorop languages) listed by Foley (2018):[2]
Karkar-Yuri and Pauwasi family cognates gloss Tebi Zorop Karkar-Yuri ‘I’ na nam ɔn ‘you (sg)’ fro nem am ‘we’ numu nim nəm (incl)/yin (excl) ‘belly’ dialə yalək yare ‘bird’ olmu awe ant ‘black’ təŋəra seŋgəri yəkəre ‘blood’ təri mob yəri ‘breast’ mamu muam mɔm ‘come’ kəlawai kwalopai koʔrop ‘eat’ ne fer- fɨr ‘eye’ ei ji yi ‘foot’ puŋwa fuŋi pu ‘give’ taʔa tipi səp ‘good’ pani kiap kwapwe ‘hand’ təro jae yæ ‘head’ məndini məndai me ‘hear’ fei fau wao ‘house’ nab nap ‘louse’ mi yemar yəʔmər ‘man’ toŋkwar Template:Not a typo arɔp ‘mosquito’ mimi yəŋkar təʔnkarəp ‘name’ kini jei e ‘road’ fiaʔa mai mwæ ‘root’ periŋgu fiŋgu arak ‘sand’ tədən gərək kaʔrək ‘tooth’ kle jurai yu ‘tree’ weyalgi war yao ‘water’ ai jewek ənt ‘who’ mate waunap wao ‘one’ kərowali aŋgətəwam ankər ‘two’ kre anəŋgar anənk
Dialects
- North Central Yuri dialect, spoken in Yuri village (Template:Coord), Abaru ward, Green River Rural LLG
- Auia-Tarauwi dialect, spoken in Auia (Auiya) village (Template:Coord), Auiya 1 ward, Green River Rural LLG; and in Tarauwi (Trowari) village (Template:Coord), Kambriap ward, Green River Rural LLG
- Usari dialect, spoken in Usari village (Template:Coord), Auiya 1 ward, Green River Rural LLG
Phonology
The Karkar inventory is as follows.[5]
Stress assignment is complex, but not phonemic within morphemes. Syllable structure is CVC, assuming nasal–plosive sequences are analyzed as prenasalized consonants.
Vowels
Karkar has a vowel inventory consisting of 11 vowels, which is considered very high for a Papuan language.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open-mid | ɐ | ||
| Open | ɑ |
There is also one diphthong, ao Script error: No such module "IPA".. Vowels are written á Script error: No such module "IPA"., é Script error: No such module "IPA"., ae Script error: No such module "IPA"., o Script error: No such module "IPA"., ou Script error: No such module "IPA"., ɨ Script error: No such module "IPA"..
Foley (2018) lists the 11 Karkar-Yuri vowels as:[2]Template:Rp
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Near-open | æ | ʌ | ɔ |
| Open | a | ɒ |
Some vowel height contrasts in Karkar-Yuri (Foley 2018):[2]Template:Rp
- ki ‘yam’
- kɨ ‘loosen’
- ku ‘cut crosswise in half’
- ke ‘edible nut’
- kər ‘put in netbag’
- ko ‘pig’
- kæ ‘egg’
- kʌʔr ‘swamp’
- kɔ ‘again’
- kar ‘speech’
- kɒ ‘bird species’
There are four contrasting central vowel heights:[2]Template:Rp
- kɨr ‘red bird of paradise’ (Paradisaea rubra)
- kər ‘put in net bag’
- kʌʔr ‘swamp’
- kar ‘speech’
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex/ palatal |
Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plainScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | labializedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | plainScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | labializedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | |||||
| Nasal | plainScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | m | mʷ | n | ||||
| glottalizedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | ˀm | ˀn | ||||||
| Stop | prenasalizedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | ᵐp | ᵐpʷ | ⁿt | ᵑk | ᵑkʷ | ||
| plainScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | p | pʷ | t | k | kʷ | ʔ | ||
| Fricative | f | fʷ | s | |||||
| Flap | ˀɾ | ɽ | ||||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||||
The rhotics and glottal(ized) consonants do not appear initially in a word, and plain Script error: No such module "IPA"., the approximants, and the labialized consonants do not occur finally. Glottal stop only occurs finally. Final k spirantizes to Script error: No such module "IPA".. Plosives are voiced intervocalically. Intervocalic f and p neutralize to Script error: No such module "IPA". (apart from a few names, where Script error: No such module "IPA". is retained), and intervocalic k is voiced to Script error: No such module "IPA".. Phonemic labialized stops only occur in two words, apwar 'weeds, to weed' and ankwap 'another'. Template:Contradict-inline Otherwise consonants are labialized between a rounded and a front vowel, as in pok-ea Script error: No such module "IPA". 'going up'. In some words, the plosive of a final NC is silent unless suffixed: onomp Script error: No such module "IPA". 'my', onompono Script error: No such module "IPA". 'it's mine'.
Prenasalized and labialized consonant contrasts:[2]Template:Rp
- pi ‘bird tail’, pwi ‘enough’, mporan ‘tomorrow’
- kar ‘voice’, ŋkɔte ‘over there’, kwar ‘ground’, ŋkwakwo ‘many kinds’
Plain and preglottalized sonorants contrasts, which only occur in word finals:[2]Template:Rp
- ərər ‘sore’, ərəʔr ‘dig a hole’
- pan ‘sago flour’, pəʔn ‘blunt’
Writing system
| a | á | ae | ao | e | é | i | ɨ | o | ou | u | f | fw | k | kw | m |
| mw | m | mp | mpw | n | nk | nkw | nt | p | pw | r | s | t | w | y |
Pronouns
Pronouns listed by Ross (2005):
| sg | pl | |
|---|---|---|
| 1ex | on-o | yin-o |
| 1in | nám-o | |
| 2 | am-o | yum-o |
| 3 | ma-o | |
Object forms take -an, sometimes replacing the -o: onan, amoan, man, yinan, námoan, yumoan. Mao is a demonstrative 'that one, those'; it contrasts with nko, nkoan 'the other one(s)'.
Pronouns listed by Foley (2018) are:[2]
Karkar-Yuri pronouns sg pl 1incl nʌmɔ 1excl ɔn yin 2 amɔ yumɔ 3 ma
Vocabulary
Below are some basic vocabulary words in Karkar-Yuri.[2]
Karkar-Yuri basic vocabulary ‘I’ ɔn ‘you (sg)’ am ‘we’ nəm (incl) / yin (excl) ‘belly’ yare ‘bird’ ant ‘black’ yəkəre ‘blood’ yəri ‘breast’ mɔm ‘come’ koʔrop ‘eat’ fɨr ‘eye’ yi ‘foot’ pu ‘give’ səp ‘good’ kwapwe ‘hand’ yæ ‘head’ me ‘hear’ wao ‘house’ nap ‘louse’ yəʔmər ‘man’ arɔp ‘mosquito’ təʔnkarəp ‘name’ e ‘road’ mwæ ‘root’ arak ‘sand’ kaʔrək ‘tooth’ yu ‘tree’ yao ‘water’ ənt ‘who’ wao ‘one’ ankər ‘two’ anənk
Further reading
- Price, Dorothy and Veda Rigden. 1988. Karkar-Yuri – English Dictionary. Unpublished manuscript. Ukarumpa, PNG: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
- Rigden, Veda n.d. Karkar grammar essentials. Unpublished manuscript. Ukarumpa: SIL-PNG.
References
Works cited
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Template:Languages of Papua New Guinea
- ↑ Harald Hammarström, 2010. The status of the least documented language families in the world
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Dorothy Price, 1993. Organised Phonology Data: Karkar-Yuri Language [YUJ]: Green River – Sandaun Province