| States | Papua New Guinea |
|---|---|
| Region | Bogia District, Madang Province |
| Speakers | 410 |
| Date | 2003 |
| Ref | e18 |
| Familycolor | Papuan |
| Fam 1 | Torricelli – Sepik Coast |
| Fam 2 | Sepik Coast |
| Fam 3 | Monumbo languages |
| Iso 3 | mxk |
| Glotto | nucl1458 |
| Glottorefname | Monumbo |
Monumbo is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. There is an early description in German.[1] It is closely related to Lilau.
Phonology
Mambuwan consonants are:[2]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | q | |
| prenasalized | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | ||||
| voiced | z | ɣ | ||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
Mambuwan vowels are:[2]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Grammar
Monumbo distinguishes five gender classes for singular and dual third-person pronouns, but only two gender classes (masculine and feminine) for third-person plural pronouns, a typologically unusual feature. There are five genders for the third-person pronoun, which are masculine, feminine, neutral, diminutive, and miscellaneous genders.[2]
Mambuwan subject agreement prefixes are:[2]
- {|
! !! sg !! du !! pl |- ! 1 | a- || i- || i- |- ! 2 | si- ~ su- || u- || u- |- ! 3m | ni- ~ nu- || ma- || gi- |- ! 3f | w- || wa- |- ! 3n | i- || ma- || bo- |- ! 3dim | mi- || ba- || |- ! 3other | gi- || ga- || |}
Mambuwan has a general oblique case marker –unum ~ -Cusum for nouns:[2]
- ŋait-unum
- fire-OBL
- ‘in/at/with/through fire’
Mambuwan also makes use of postpositions such as ŋaŋ ‘inside’:[2]
- su ŋaŋ
- water inside
- ‘in the water’
Mambuwan has highly complex verbal inflection.[2]
Nouns
Some Mambuwan nouns and their respective plural forms:[2]
- {|
! gloss !! singular !! plural |- ! ‘mouth’ | alakam || alakambo |- ! ‘leg’ | sabo || sabo |- ! ‘thorn’ | pupuk || pupuka |- ! ‘door’ | kigi || kigika |- ! ‘stream’ | su || suga |- ! ‘crab’ | dɔra || dɔrage |- ! ‘name’ | inu || inuore |- ! ‘beach’ | lulu || luluore |- ! ‘coconut’ | dɛ || dɛip |- ! ‘island’ | mot || motiwe |- ! ‘hand’ | naŋdabi || naŋdabian |}
References
- ^ Vormann, Franz and Scharfenberger, Wilhel. 1914. Die Monumbo-Sprache: Grammatik und Worterverzeichnis
- ^ Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. Vol. 4. The World of Linguistics. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.