Source: https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/16/28/16/16281672143180666594672151571175410540/2_Kuman.pdf
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English Pages 8 Year 2005
Kuman Language [Simbu Province] Trans New Guinea Phylum; East New Guinea Highlands Stock; Central (Chimbu) Family Population: 115,000 (2000 census) Major villages: All villages inside the following boundary: follow the Wahgi River east from the Western Highlands and Simbu Province border going until Kundiawa and then leave the Wahgi River and continue 10 more kilometers east along the Highlands Highway, then north to the border between Madang and Simbu provinces. Follow this border west to the Simbu Western Highlands border and follow that border south to the Wahgi River. Linguistic work done by: Lutheran mission, Catholic Church and SIL Data checked by: Daryl and Mary Pfantz (2004)
Abbreviations PL = plural 1S = first person singular 2S = second person 3S = third person singular 3PL = third person plural [ ] = the phonetic transcription of a word / / = the phonemic transcription of a word < > = orthographic form Phonetic transcriptions follow the most recent IPA symbols with the exception of [L], which is used to mark the voiceless velar lateral.
Phonemic and Orthographic Inventory /a b d e i
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Kuman Language
Consonants Bilabial pb m
Plosive Nasal
Alveolar td n
Fricative
j
Approximant
l
Lateral Approximant
[pi] [to.po] [ko.pap]
/b/
‘sugar cane’ [mbo] [a.mbai] ‘girl’ (no word final forms)
/m/ [mam] [o.mun] [ju.um]
‘knife’ ‘trade’ ‘quickly’
‘mother (3S)’ ‘beetle larva’ ‘ashes’
/w/ [wam] ‘fat’ [o. u.wa] ‘pumpkin’ no word final forms
/d/
/n/
/l/
voiced labial-velar approximant
/p/
/t/
Velar k
s
Tap/Flap
/w/
Palatal
[t.ke] ‘hide’ [mit.na] ‘above’ (no word final forms) [.da] ‘there’ [di] ‘axe’ (no word final forms) [na] ‘I’ [kat.na] ‘foot (1S)’ [ka.mun] ‘rain’ (no word initial forms) [w.la] ‘bat’ (no word final forms)
/s/ [su.o] ‘there’ [u.si] ‘term for tobacco’ (no word final forms) // (no word initial forms) ‘to pick’ [u.o] [ir] ‘wind’ /k/
[ku.a] [do.ko] [ak] [kam.ku.a] [u.na.ka]
//
[o] ‘red’ [mo. o] ‘seed’ (no word final forms)
/j/
‘people’ [jo.mba] [mi.je] ‘flesh’ (no word final forms)
//
(no word initial forms) [a.i.mba~a.mba] ‘a kind of green vegetable’ [mo.ka] ‘he stays’ [to] ‘fence’
‘bird’ ‘find’ ‘boy’ ‘cloud’ ‘I will come’
Organised Phonology Data Papers
Vowels i
u
e
o a
/i/ [i. a] [pi] [.di] [ki.am]
‘who?’ ‘knife’ ‘tree’ ‘other wife’
/e/ [.i.me] ‘now’ [d.no] ‘belly’ [ka.de] ‘big’
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/u/ [u.u.mbo] [su.o] [a.mbu] [ε.du.o]
‘thick reed or cane’ ‘there’ ‘woman’ ‘come here’
/o/ [o.u.wa] [to.ki] [ko.do] [pi.jo]
‘pumpkin’ ‘snake’ ‘leave’ ‘you (PL) go!’
/a/ [a.de] [ka.mbe] [o.a] [ku.a]
‘sun’ ‘banana’ ‘he goes’ ‘bird’
Gloss ‘fly’ (noun) ‘flower’
Table 1– Vowel glides Vowels iu ui
Examples diun kuiye
au ou
gaugl tou
Phonetic [diun] [kui.je] [au] [tou]
ei
kei
[ki]
‘to build’
ai
wakai
[wa.kai]
‘good’
oi
koiye
[koi.je]
‘wing’
eu
deu
[du]
‘miracle’
‘laugh’ ‘wrapper’
Vowels occurring together are pronounced as separate syllables if the second vowel is lower than the first, as illustrated by the examples in Table 2: Table 2 – Vowel clusters forming two syllables Vowels uo
Examples kruo
Phonetic [ku.o]
Gloss ‘white’
ua
kua
[ku.a]
‘bird’
io
pio
[pi.o]
‘you go’ (imperative)
ie
sie
[si.e]
‘owl’
ia
kiam
[ki.am]
‘other wife’
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Kuman Language
Suprasegmentals (tone, stress, length) In two-and three-syllable words the stress is usually on the first syllable. There are only very few exceptions. In words with four or more syllables the stress is on the third syllable. These long words are fairly uncommon and may all be the result of compounding. Hardie (2003:63-92) identifies a distinction between falling and non-falling tone on Kuman words. However, there are only a few minimal pairs, so tone is not marked in the orthography. There is no contrast between length of vowels or between length of consonants.
Syllable Patterns There are 4 basic syllable types in the language. They are V, VC, CV, CVC. Syllables are discussed in Hardie (2003:44-48). Table 3 – Syllable patterns Word i V a.na
VC
CV
CVC
[a.na]
Meaning ‘this, that’ ‘and’
et.n.a
[t.n.a]
‘do (2S)’
du.a
[du.a] [ir]
‘rat’
ir ol.to
Phonetic [i]
[o.to]
‘cold’ ‘long’
ki.am
[ki.am]
‘other wife’
bo
[mbo]
‘sugar cane’
ka.mun
[ka.mun]
‘sky’
bu.mbu.no
[mbu.mbu.no]
‘desire’
kol.ko
[ko.ko]
‘frog’
ak
[ak]
‘boy’
anilma
[a. i.ma]
‘brother (3PL)’
nu.man
[nu.man]
‘louse’
Syllable codas are only formed by the sonorant [m, n, , r, l].
Organised Phonology Data Papers
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Conventions: Phonological The voiced plosives /b d / are usually prenasalised [b d ]. Word initially the simple and pre-nasalised voiced plosives fluctuate; elsewhere only the prenasalised allophones occur. /p/, /t/ and /k/ are always aspirated word initially. /s/ can be pronounced either [s] or [ts] word initially, although the use of [ts] seems to be disappearing in younger speakers. // occurs only word-medially and finally. In word final position it is a trilled [r]. /l/ occurs only word medially, while // occurs only word medially and word finally. // is pronounced in many ways according to what sound follows it. Generally it is voiced between vowels, elsewhere more like [x] or [dl]. It becomes an alveolar lateral fricative [] before [s]. /w/ is pronounced [] before front vowels /i/ and /e/. Elsewhere it is pronounced like the English [w]. The verb final combination /kwa/ is caused by the combining of two verbal suffixes and is the only place in the langauge where /kw/ occurs. /e/ is pronounced in its lax form [] when it is the first vowel in the word. /o/ is pronounced in its lax form [] when it preceeds //. The semivowels /j/ /w/ alternate between vowels and consonants in order to maintain a CV.CV syllable pattern. For example, when the morphemes: /u/ ‘come’, /–i/ ‘1S’ and /-ga/ ‘declarative’ come together they form [wi.ga] ‘I come’. Consonant clusters: the following alternations occur, depending on surrounding stress and syllable patterns: pir ~ pr , sir ~ sr, mbir ~ mbr, tir ~ tr, and dir ~ dr. Word final [n] can be syllabic as in ambatn [a.mbat. ņ] ‘your sister’. Word final [] can produce a syllabic [l] in a few situations, such as in Keglsugl [keg.ļ.sug.ļ] ‘place name’.
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Kuman Language
Conventions: Orthographic Only loanwords use: h , f , and j . There have been two ways to write the prenasalised allophones of voiced plosives (b,d,g) occurring word medially. Some write them like the simple plosives, but because of the influence of English and Tok Pisin, we are recommending that they be written as , , and . The following consonant clusters: [pr], [kr], [tr], and [sr]; when they occur in words where they are in free variation with [pir], [kir], [tir], and [sir] respectively, are written as , ,