Manubaran language of Papua New Guinea
Doromu, or Doromu-Koki, is a Manubaran language spoken in the "Bird's Tail" of Papua New Guinea. Doromu has about 1,500 native speakers with half of them living in the capital, Port Moresby. It has three varieties: Koki, Kokila and Koriko.[2]
Phonology
Doromu has 17 phonemes: 12 are consonants and 5 are vowels.[3]
Consonants
Below is a chart of Doromu consonants.
Vowels
Below is a chart of Doromu vowels.
Orthography
From March 18 to March 25 of 2002 in Kasonomu village the current orthography was developed during the Doromu Alphabet Design Workshop. The orthography developed from this workshop were discussed with various areas in the language group and were agreed upon. One problem was how borrowed words with letters not contained in the Doromu orthography would be dealt with. The proposed solution from the native speakers was to spell the loan words as they are spelled in their original language.
Verbs
In Doromu verbs may have suffixes, which affect tense, aspect, mood, or switch reference.
Tense affixes
Past Tense
- First person singular is indicated by -(y)aka
- Second and Third person singular are indicated by -(y)o
- First person plural is indicated by -(y)afa
- Second and Third person plural are indicated by -(y)adi
Present Tense
- First person singular is indicated by -da
- Second person singular is indicated by -sa
- Third person singular is indicated by -do
- First person plural is indicated by -sifa
- Second and Third person plural are indicated by -dedi
Past Tense
- First person singular is indicated by -gida
- Second person singular is indicated by -giya
- Third person singular is indicated by -go
- First person plural is indicated by -gifa
- Second and Third person plural are indicated by -gedi
Colors
Below is a table of the names of different colors in Doromu.
| Doromu
|
English
|
| blu
|
blue
|
| bora
|
yellow, orange
|
| braun
|
brown
|
| feo
|
white
|
| gabu
|
black, blue, brown
|
| kaka
|
red, purple
|
| vegu
|
green
|
The words 'blu' and 'braun' are borrowed from another language. The word 'kaka' can also mean ripe. While 'vegu' is also a noun which means 'life'. 'Kamaidaforo' is the word meaning 'colorful, attractive, glittery, sparkling'.
