Kairiru is one of three Kairiru languages spoken mainly on Kairiru and Mushu islands and in several coastal villages on the mainland between Cape Karawop and Cape Samein near Wewak in East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea.

Phonology

Consonants

• The tap /ɾ/ varies freely between [ɾ] or a retroflex [ɻ].
• [ʃ] is heard as an allophone of /tʃ/ among young speakers.^[2]
• /b/ is heard as [p] in word-final position.
• /k/ may vary between a voiced [ɡ] or [k] when in between a high and non-high vowel.^[3]
• The back-velar /k̠/ may also be heard freely as uvular [q], and may vary between a stop or fricatives [k̠], [x̠] or voiced [ɡ̠], [ɣ̠] when preceded and followed by /a/ or /o/.^[3]

Vowels

• Sounds /i, u, e, o/ may have lax allophones as [ɪ, ʊ, ɛ, ɔ] in closed syllables.
• Vowels /e, o/ may have a lax allophone of [ə] when following other vowels.
• /a/ may be heard as [æ] when preceding a velar nasal /ŋ/ in free variation with [a].^[2]

Morphology

Pronouns and person markers

One remarkable feature of the pronoun system of Kairiru is that it appears to have lost the distinction between first-person inclusive and exclusive pronouns throughout its affix paradigms, but then recreated inclusive forms in its independent pronouns by combining first-person and second-person forms along the lines of Tok Pisin yumi (< yu + mi). The inclusive-exclusive distinction is almost universal among Austronesian languages but generally lacking in Papuan languages.

Free pronouns

Genitive pronouns

Possessive suffixes on inalienable nouns

Subject prefixes on verbs

Object suffixes on verbs