Tehit language
| Tehit | |
|---|---|
| Kaibus | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Papua |
Native speakers | 10,000 (2000)[1] 500 monolinguals (2000?)[2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kps |
| Glottolog | tehi1237 |
  Tehit  Tehit | |
| Coordinates: 1°31′S 131°59′E / 1.51°S 131.99°E | |
Tehit is a Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea. Other spellings are Tahit, Tehid, and other names Kaibus, Teminabuan. Dialects are Tehit Jit, Mbol Fle, Saifi, Imyan, Sfa Riere, Fkar, Sawiat Salmeit. A grammar sketch can be found in Don Flassy's 1991 Leiden University M.A.. thesis.[3]
Morphology
Tehit has four grammatical genders, which are masculine, feminine, plural, and neuter. Examples:[4]
| gender | suffix | examples |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | -w | ndla-w ‘husband’, sna-w ‘moon’, qliik-w ‘snake’ |
| feminine | -m | -ene-m ‘mother’, tali-m ‘sun’, mbol-m ‘house’ |
| plural | -y | sinas-y ‘small mosquito’, sinaq-y ‘gravel’, siray ‘salt’ |
| neuter | zero | n/a |
Gender prefixes in Tehit can not only be used to denote gender, but also size, wholeness, and the stability of appearances. Masculine gender is associated with small size, parts of wholes, and changing appearances, while feminine gender is associated with large size, wholeness, and stable appearances. Examples (from Flassy 1991: 10–12):
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References
- ^ Tehit at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Tehit language at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
- ^ Flassy, Don Augusthinus Lamaech. 1991. Grammar sketch of Tehit: A Toror language, the West Doberai Peninsula, New Guinea (Irian Jaya). Leiden University M.A. Thesis.
- ^ Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian (2018). "The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird's Head". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 569–640. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
External links
- Hesse, Ronald. "Tehit". NUSA - Linguistic Studies of Indonesian and Other Languages in Indonesia. In: Volume 47 (2000) Ger P. REESINK (ed.): Studies in Irian Languages, Part II.