| Berik | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Tor Atas district, Sarmi Regency |
Native speakers | (1,200 cited 1994) [1] |
Foja Range (Tor–Kwerba) | |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bkl |
| Glottolog | beri1254 |
Berik is a Papuan language spoken in eastern Papua. Speakers are located in four village groups on the Tor River towards the northern coast of Indonesian-controlled Irian Jaya. [2]
US linguist John McWhorter cited Berik as an example of a language which puts concepts "together in ways more fascinatingly different from English than most of us are aware". [3] Illustrating this, in the phrase Kitobana (meaning "[he] gives three large objects to a male in the sunlight"), affixes indicating time of day, object number, object size, and gender of recipient are added to the verb. [3] [4] [5]
In Tor Atas District, Berik is spoken in Beu, Bora Bora, Dangken, Doronta, Kondirjan, Safrontani, Sewan, Somanente, Taminambor, Tenwer, Togonfo, and Waf villages. [1]
| Labial | Alveolar | (Alveolo-) palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m [ m ] | n [ n ] | ng [ ŋ ] | ||
| Plosive & affricate | voiceless | p [ p ] | t [ t ] | k [ k ] | |
| voiced | b [ b ] | d [ d ] | j [ d͡ʑ ] | g [ ɡ ] | |
| Fricative | f [ f ] | s [ s ] | |||
| Approximant | l [ l ] | y [ j ] | w [ w ] | ||
| Tap | r [ ɾ ] | ||||
Berik has the common six vowel system (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ plus /ə/). [6]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i [ i ] | u [ u ] | |
| Mid | e [ e ] | ə [ ə ] | o [ o ] |
| Open | a [ a ] |
Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri. It is bordered by the sovereign state of Papua New Guinea to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the north, Cenderawasih Bay to the west, and the provinces of Central Papua and Highland Papua to the south. The province also shares maritime boundaries with Palau in the Pacific. Following the splitting off of twenty regencies to create the three new provinces of Central Papua, Highland Papua, and South Papua on 30 June 2022, the residual province is divided into eight regencies (kabupaten) and one city (kota), the latter being the provincial capital of Jayapura. The province has a large potential in natural resources, such as gold, nickel, petroleum, etc. Papua, along with five other Papuan provinces, has a higher degree of autonomy level compared to other Indonesian provinces.
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Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. See also the Outline of linguistics, the List of phonetics topics, the List of linguists, and the List of cognitive science topics. Articles related to linguistics include:
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