Monumbo
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionBogia District, Madang Province
Native speakers
410 (2003)[1]
Torricelli – Sepik Coast
Language codes
ISO 639-3mxk
Glottolognucl1458
ELPMonumbo

Monumbo is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. There is an early description in German.[2] It is closely related to Lilau.

Phonology

Mambuwan consonants are:[3]

Consonants
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:[3]

Vowels
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.[3]

Mambuwan subject agreement prefixes are:[3]

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:[3]

ŋait-unum
fire-OBL
‘in/at/with/through fire’

Mambuwan also makes use of postpositions such as ŋaŋ ‘inside’:[3]

su ŋaŋ
water inside
‘in the water’

Mambuwan has highly complex verbal inflection.[3]

Nouns

Some Mambuwan nouns and their respective plural forms:[3]

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

  1. ^ Monumbo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Vormann, Franz and Scharfenberger, Wilhel. 1914. Die Monumbo-Sprache: Grammatik und Worterverzeichnis
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". 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. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
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