| Nagovisi | |
|---|---|
| Sibe | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Bougainville Province |
Native speakers | 12,000 (2018)[1] |
South Bougainville
| |
| Latin script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nco |
| Glottolog | sibe1248 |
| ELP | Sibe |
Nagovisi, or Sibe, is a South Bougainville language spoken in the mountains of southern Bougainville Province, Papua New Guinea.
Nagovisi makes use of noun class suffixes, which are:[2]
| Noun class suffix | Noun class semantics | Example (with demonstrative a-) | Gloss of example |
|---|---|---|---|
| -bore | round things, including balls, coins, coconuts, fruit, betelnut, cooking pots, garamut drums | moo a-bore-ka' | ‘that coconut’ |
| -mai | dogs, cats, horses, knives, forks, spoons, axes and other tools | moska a-mai-ka' | ‘that dog’ |
| -möö | people, birds, fish, small animals, insects, reptiles | kokoree' a-möö-ka' | ‘that chicken’ |
| -visi | houses, buildings, canoes, ships, cars | pawa a-visi-ga' | ‘that house’ |
| -woro' | pigs, cows | pooro' a-woro-ka' | ‘that pig’ |
