| Ngkolmpu | |
|---|---|
| Ngkontar | |
| Region | New Guinea |
| Ethnicity | Kanum |
Native speakers | 100 (2018)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:kcd – Ngkâlmpw Kanumkhd – Bädi Kanum |
| Glottolog | ngka1236 |
| ELP | |
Ngkolmpu Kanum, or Ngkontar, is part of a dialect chain in the Yam family spoken by the Kanum people of New Guinea. The Ngkâlmpw (Ngkontar) and moribund Bädi varieties have limited mutual intelligibility may be considered distinct languages.[1]
Languages spoken by the Kanum have variously been referred to as Ngkâlmpw Kanum, Enkelembu, Kenume, and Knwne.[2][3] Carroll describes three varieties forming a dialect chain. Ngkolmpu is divided into Ngkontar and the moribund variety Baedi (Bädi).
Ngkolmpu Kanum has 15 consonant phonemes (plus two marginal phonemes) at three points of articulation: bilabial, coronal, and velar. Prenasalized voiceless stops and fricatives contrast with voiceless and nasal realizations, which is typologically unusual. The orthography is enclosed in angle brackets.
| Bilabial | Coronal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ |
| prenasal | ᵐp ⟨mp⟩ | ⁿt ⟨nt⟩ | ᵑk ⟨ngk⟩ | |
| voiced | b ⟨b⟩ | (ɡ) ⟨g⟩ | ||
| Fricative | plain | s ⟨s⟩ | ||
| prenasal | ⁿs ⟨ns⟩,⟨nc⟩ | |||
| Trill | r ⟨r⟩ | |||
| Liquid | l ⟨l⟩ | |||
| Glide | w ⟨w⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ | ||
The Ngkolmpu (Ngkâlmpw) Kanum variety is notable for its complex verbal inflection and tendency to distribute grammatical features throughout an utterance, referred to as distributed exponence.[3]