| Mundugumor | |
|---|---|
| Biwat | |
| Region | East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea |
| Ethnicity | Mundugumor people |
| Native speakers | 3,000 (2003) |
| Language family | Yuat
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bwm |
| Glottolog | biwa1243 |
| ELP | Biwat |
| Coordinates: 4°24′55″S 143°51′36″E / 4.415234°S 143.859962°E / -4.415234; 143.859962 (Biwat) | |
Mundugumor (Munduguma, Mundukomo) a.k.a. Biwat is a Yuat language of Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in Biwat village (4°24′55″S 143°51′36″E / 4.415234°S 143.859962°E / -4.415234; 143.859962 (Biwat)) of Yuat Rural LLG, East Sepik Province.
Phonology
Mundukumo consonants are:
p t k ᵐb ⁿd ᶮʤ ᵑg m n ɲ ŋ f s ᵐv r w j
Mundukumo vowels are:
| i | u | |
| e | ə | o |
| a |
Nouns
Some examples showing Mundukomo nouns and their irregular plural forms:
gloss singular plural ‘snake’ mas mase ‘tooth’ adusuva adusuvavi ‘bone’ avu avuvavi ‘nose’ ŋlək ŋlu ‘thigh’ guak go ‘hand’ klik klia ‘dog’ ken kidu ‘betelnut’ siman simadu ‘ear’ tuan tuadu ‘fire’ mən məda ‘basket’ ban bada ‘mouth’ balaŋ balaji ‘house’ klaŋ klagi ‘star’ susuaŋ susuagi ‘water’ mam mabi ‘neck’ volam volabi ‘ball’ muŋmam muŋmabi ‘cassowary’ kalim kalimu ‘girl’ analom analomu ‘paddle’ dum dumu
Similar patterns of complex nominal plural allomorphy are also found in the Lower Sepik-Ramu languages.
External links
- Paradisec has a collection of recordings of Biwat language. They also have a collection of recordings from Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Pacific from Don Laycock that includes Biwat materials.
Further reading
- McDowell, Nancy. 1991. The Mundugumor: From the Fieldnotes of Margaret Mead and Reo Fortune. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
- McElvenny, James. 2007. Notes on Mundukumo. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney.
References
- ^ Mundugumor at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) [REDACTED]
- United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
- ^ 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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