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 k l m n o p  s t u w j / 19 20 Kuman Language Consonants Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Plosive p b t d k  Nasal m n Tap/Flap  Fricative s Approximant j Lateral Approximant l  /w/ voiced labial-velar approximant /p/ [pi] ‘knife’ /s/ [su.o] ‘there’ [to.po] ‘trade’ [u.si] ‘term for tobacco’ [ko.pap] ‘quickly’ (no word final forms) /b/ [mbo] ‘sugar cane’ // (no word initial forms) [a.mbai] ‘girl’ [u.o] ‘to pick’ (no word final forms) [ir] ‘wind’ /m/ [mam] ‘mother (3S)’ /k/ [ku.a] ‘bird’ [o.mun] ‘beetle larva’ [do.ko] ‘find’ [ju.um] ‘ashes’ [ak] ‘boy’ /w/ [wam] ‘fat’ [kam.ku.a] ‘cloud’ [o. u.wa] ‘pumpkin’ [u.na.ka] ‘I will come’ no word final forms // [o] ‘red’ /t/ [t.ke] ‘hide’ [mo.o] ‘seed’ [mit.na] ‘above’ (no word final forms) (no word final forms) /j/ [jo.mba] ‘people’ /d/ [.da] ‘there’ [mi.je] ‘flesh’ [di] ‘axe’ (no word final forms) (no word final forms) // (no word initial forms) /n/ [na] ‘I’ [a.i.mba~a.mba] ‘a kind of [kat.na] ‘foot (1S)’ green vegetable’ [ka.mun] ‘rain’ [mo.ka] ‘he stays’ /l/ (no word initial forms) [to] ‘fence’ [w.la] ‘bat’ (no word final forms) Organised Phonology Data Papers 21 Vowels /u/ [u.u.mbo] ‘thick reed or cane’ i u [su.o] ‘there’ [a.mbu] ‘woman’ e o [ε.du.o] ‘come here’ a /o/ [o.u.wa] ‘pumpkin’ /i/ [i. a] ‘who?’ [to.ki] ‘snake’ [pi] ‘knife’ [ko.do] ‘leave’ [.di] ‘tree’ [pi.jo] ‘you (PL) go!’ [ki.am] ‘other wife’ /a/ [a.de] ‘sun’ /e/ [.i.me] ‘now’ [ka.mbe] ‘banana’ [d.no] ‘belly’ [o.a] ‘he goes’ [ka.de] ‘big’ [ku.a] ‘bird’ Table 1– Vowel glides Vowels Examples Phonetic Gloss iu diun [diun] ‘fly’ (noun) ui kuiye [kui.je] ‘flower’ au gaugl [au] ‘laugh’ ou tou [tou] ‘wrapper’ ei kei [ki] ‘to build’ ai wakai [wa.kai] ‘good’ oi koiye [koi.je] ‘wing’ eu deu [du] ‘miracle’ 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 Examples Phonetic Gloss uo kruo [ku.o] ‘white’ ua kua [ku.a] ‘bird’ io pio [pi.o] ‘you go’ (imperative) ie sie [si.e] ‘owl’ ia kiam [ki.am] ‘other wife’ 22 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 Phonetic Meaning V i [i] ‘this, that’ a.na [a.na] ‘and’ et.n.a [t.n.a] ‘do (2S)’ du.a [du.a] ‘rat’ VC ir [ir] ‘cold’ ol.to [o.to] ‘long’ ki.am [ki.am] ‘other wife’ CV bo [mbo] ‘sugar cane’ ka.mun [ka.mun] ‘sky’ bu.mbu.no [mbu.mbu.no] ‘desire’ kol.ko [ko.ko] ‘frog’ CVC ak [ak] ‘boy’ anilma [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 23 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 [keg.ļ.sug.ļ] ‘place name’. 24 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 , , , and . The one exception to this rule is the verb stem /pir/ ‘know’ or ‘hear’, which is always written as . Vowels at the end of words are lost in normal speech when followed by a word starting with a vowel; these latter vowels are still usually written. Note in the example below that is spelled the same even though the final vowel /e/ is dropped in the first sentence. [endogwa] ‘he went’ [endesigarogwa] ‘he went to Singar’ Transcription of a recorded passage /keaku joba tau kabu ee sina ede edile ewa  je pi kobuo muu ta kaniwa  je taa kobuo da jewa  ak suota ewa je kobuo dra mekwa joba tau ede edile kabu dekikwa  ak keba suo ni koa ebiko ak ta kanwa kobuo da si pere di ake jauukwa  mim pao joba edile wawa wiwa  ak keba nem ditowa nono juu paikiabuue duwa  kobuo jane dra sipere duwa nono meda panabalua  ana je meda pabiika ediwee kobuo jane da sipee duwa  ak nem kana wakai miuri iba tau ekwa  eime joba edile waniwa kobuo dra paikrikwa  edile wan ede juu keme wiwa  te edile panamunedi juu kebra kei padi pawa/ ‘One day the people from Kengaglku went to hunt wallabies in the bush. They went and found a cave where they put their belongings. The people went into the bush to look for wallabies, leaving three boys to stay in the cave. While two of the boys went for water the other boy saw a stone close over the entrance of the cave and then open up again. In the afternoon when people returned from the bush, the small boy said to his father, "We shall not sleep in the cave. I saw a stone fall over the entrance of the cave and then open up again." So the father and his son slept outside. At night the stone fell and closed the door of the cave. The father and the son were safe but the other people died. Now when people go to the bush they never sleep in caves. They only go to the bush and come home. And if they want to sleep in the bush they must make a small house and sleep.’ 26 Kuman Language Bibliography Bergmann, H.F.W. 1966. Ankang Zum Kuman Deutch Woerterbuch. Mimeo. Ega Chimbu: Lutheran Mission. 460 pp. Bergmann, H.F.W. 1967. Ankang II Zum Kuman Deutch Woerterbuch. Mimeo. Ega Chimbu: Lutheran Mission. 460 pp. Bergmann, H.F.W. n.d. Grammatik der Kuman-Sprache. Mimeo. Ega Chimbu: Lutheran Mission. 158 pp. Hannemann, Rev. Herbert H. n.d. A Short Kuman Grammar. And a Kuman- English Dictionary with an Appendix. Unpublished. 643 pp. Hardie, Peter. 2003. Is Kuman Tonal? An account of basic segmental and tonological structure in the Papuan language Kuman. M. A. Thesis. Australian National University: Canberra. Lynch, John. 1983. On the Kuman “Liquids”. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 14: 98-112. Nilles, J. 1969. The Kuman-English Dictionary. Mimeo. Kundiawa, Simbu, PNG: Catholic Mission. Piau, Julie. 1981. Kuman classificatory verbs. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 13:3-31. Piau, Julie Ann. 1985. Verbal Syntax of Kuman. M.A. Thesis. Australian National University: Canberra. Trefry, D. 1967. Kuman Language Course. Port Moresby, P.N.G.: Dept. of Info. & Extension Services. Trefry, D. 1969. A Comparative Study of Kuman and Pawaian. Pacific Linguistics, B-Monograph 13. Australian National University: Canberra. Wurm, S.A. (ed.) 1975. New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study. Pacific Linguistics. C-38 Vol. I.

Kuman Language [Simbu Province]

Similar Kuman Language [Simbu Province]