Ngkolmpu Kanum language
| Kanum | |
|---|---|
| Region | New Guinea |
Native speakers | (340 cited 1996)[1] |
Trans-Fly – Bulaka River?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:kcd – Ngkâlmpw Kanumkhd – Bädi Kanumkrz – Sota Kanumkxq – Smärky Kanum |
| Glottolog | kanu1280 |
Kanum is a language chain in the Yam family with difficult mutual intelligibility spoken by the Kanum people of New Guinea.
Dialects
Language varieties within Kanum have variously been referred to as Ngkâlmpw Kanum, Enkelembu, Kenume, and Knwne.[2][3] Carroll describes three varieties forming a dialect chain: Ngkolmpu, Ngarna (Sota), and Smerky (Smärky). Ngkolmpu is further divided into Ngkontar and the moribund variety Baedi (Bädi), while Smerky is subdivided into Smerky, Taemer, and Barkari. Ngarna is spoken in the town of Sota, whence its other name.
Phonology
Consonants
Ngkolmpu Kanum has 15 consonant phonemes (plus two marginal phonemes.) at three points of articulation: bilabial, coronal, and velar. Prenasalized voiceless stops and fricatives contrast with voiceless and nasal realizations, which is typologically unusual. The orthography is enclosed in angle brackets.
| Bilabial | Coronal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | Voiceless | p ⟨p⟩ | t <t> | k <k> |
| Prenasalized Voiceless | mp <mp> | nt <nt> | ŋk <ngk> | |
| Nasal | m <m> | n <n> | ||
| Voiced | b <b> | (ɡ) <g> | ||
| Fricatives | Voiceless | s <s> | ||
| Prenasalized Voiceless | ns <ns>,<nc> | |||
| Trill | r <r> | |||
| Lateral | l <l> | |||
| Glides | w <w> | j <y> | (w) | |
Grammar
The Ngkolmpu (Ngkâlmpw) Kanum variety is notable for its complex verbal inflection and tendency to distribute grammatical features throughout an utterance, referred to as distributed exponence.[3]
Numerals
Kanum has a base-6 numeral system. The numerals are as follows:
| Base Numbers | Powers of 6 | ||
| 1 | naempr | 61 | traowo |
| 2 | yempoka | 62 | ptae |
| 3 | yuow | 63 | tarumpao |
| 4 | eser | 64 | ntamnao |
| 5 | tampui | 65 | ulamaeke |
For example, the numeral 200 is:
swabra ptae ynaoaemy ntamnao 5 6²s (36s) (and) 2 (and) 3×6
References
- ^ Ngkâlmpw Kanum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Bädi Kanum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Sota Kanum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Smärky Kanum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Ngkolmpu Kanum language". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ^ a b Carroll, Matthew J. The Ngkolmpu Language with special reference to distributed exponence, PhD Thesis. ANU.
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