Ambai language

Ambai
Spoken in	Indonesia
Region	Ambai Island
Native speakers	10,000  (2000)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Nuclear MP Cenderawasih Bay ? Yapen Central–Western Ambai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	amk

The Ambai language is an Austronesian language spoken in Indonesian New Guinea (Papua Province), mostly on the Ambai Islands as well as the southern part of Yapen Island. The number of speakers is estimated between 7,500 – 10,000.

Phonology

Ambai has 19 consonants and 6 vowels, shown on the tables below.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Stop	b  p		d  t		ɡ  k
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Trill			r			ħ	h
Fricative	ɸ	f	s	ç  ʝ
Approximant		w		j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Open		a

Morphology

Pronouns

All pronouns in Ambai mark for number, person and clusivity (in first person).

The following bound pronouns are obligatorily added as affixes to the verb to stand as the subject of the sentence. Every verb in Ambai takes a subject, even if it is a 'dummy' 3rd person pronoun.

Bound Pronouns

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Trial	Plural
1INC		tu(r)-	to(r)-	ta(r)-
1EXCL	i-/dj-	au(r)-	anto(r)-	ame(r)-
2	b-	mu(r)-	munto(r)-	me(r)-
3	d-	u(r)-	co(r)-	e(r)-

The following pronouns are independent and are more restricted in use. They do not appear as subjects – since the subject is marked already on the verb – but can appear as objects, in prepositional phrases and in subordinate clauses. Some verbs allow the object pronoun to be omitted.

Free Pronouns

Person	Number
	Singular	Dual	Trial	Plural
1INC		turu	totoro	tata
1EXCL	jau	auru	antoru	amea
2	wau	muru	muntoro	mea
3	i	uru	coru	ea

Examples of pronouns used in everyday language:

(1)	b-oti	suru
	2SG-see	3DL.OBJ
	"Look at them (two)."

(2)	uru	u-minohi
	3DL	3DL-sit
	"They sit."

Further reading

• P.J. Silzer Ambai, an Austronesian Language of Irian Jaya, Indonesia, Ph.D. Australian National University, 1983.

External links

• Ambai in Ethnologue
• The Ambai Language Documentation Page
• A Short Description of Ambai Grammar, by Ariel Gutman
• A Grammar Sketch of Ambai, by Fannie St-Pierrre-Tanguay