Kalam language

Last updated
Kalam
Native to Papua New Guinea
Region Middle Ramu District, Madang Province;
Mount Hagen District, Western Highlands Province
Native speakers
(15,000 cited 1991) [1]
Dialects
  • Etp
  • Ti
Language codes
ISO 639-3 kmh
Glottolog kala1397

Kalam is a Kalam language of Papua New Guinea. It is closely related to Kobon, and shares many of the features of that language. Kalam is spoken in Middle Ramu District of Madang Province and in Mount Hagen District of Western Highlands Province. [2]

Contents

Thanks to decades of studies by anthropologists such as Ralph Bulmer and others, Kalam is one of the best-studied Trans-New Guinea languages to date.

Dialects

There are two distinct dialects of Kalam that are highly distinguishable from each other. [3]

Kobon is closely related.

Kalam has an elaborate pandanus avoidance register used during karuka harvest that has been extensively documented. The Kalam pandanus language, called alŋaw mnm (pandanus language) or ask-mosk mnm (avoidance language), is also used when eating or cooking cassowary. [4]

Phonology

Consonants

[5] : 5 
Bilabial Dental-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar Labial-
velar
Voiceless stops p t c k
Voiced prenasalized stops ᵐb ⁿd ᶮɟ ᵑg
Nasals stops m n ɲ ŋ
Voiceless fricative s
Lateral l
Semivowels j w

Vowels

[5] : 6 
FrontCentralBack
High ( i )( u )
Mid e o
Low a

Evolution

Below are some Kalam reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea proposed by Pawley (2012, 2018). [3] [6] [7] [8] Data is from the Etp dialect unless otherwise noted. Data from Ti, the other major dialect, is also given when noted.

proto-Trans-New Guinea Kalam
(?)*su- 'bite'su-
*(mb,m)elak 'light, lightning, brightness'melk [melɨk] 'light'
*[w]ani 'who?'an
*am(a,i) 'mother'ami
*ambi 'man'b [mbə]
*apus[i] 'grandparent'aps [aβɨs] 'grandmother'
*aya 'sister'ay
*-i(t,l) '2DU verbal suffix'-it
*iman 'louse'iman
*imbi 'name'yb [yimp]
*-it '2/3 dual verbal suffix'-it
*k(aw,o)nan 'shadow/spirit'kawnan 'spirit of the dead'
*k(o,u)ma(n,ŋ)[V] 'neck, nape'koŋam (metathesis) (cf. Kobon uŋam, loss of *k)
*kakV- 'carry on shoulder'kak-
*kamb(a,u)u[na] 'stone'kab [kamp]
*kanim 'cuscus'kmn 'game mammal (generic)'
*kin(i,u)[m]- 'sleep'kn- [kɨn]
*kindil 'root'kdl [kɨndɨl]
*kinV- 'sleep'kn-
*kumut, *tumuk 'thunder'tumuk
*kumV- 'die'kum-
*m(o,u)k 'milk, sap, breast'muk (Ti dialect mok)
*ma- 'not'ma-
*ma(n,k,L)[a] 'ground'man
*maŋgat[a] 'teeth'meg [meŋk]
*maŋgV 'compact round object, egg'magi
*mapVn 'liver'mapn
*mbalaŋ 'flame'malaŋ, maŋlaŋ
*mbapa 'father'bapi
*mo[k,ŋg]Vm 'joint'mogm
*muk 'brain'muk
*muk 'milk'muk (Ti dialect mok)
*mund-maŋgV 'heart'mudmagi
*mV 'taro'm
*mVkVm 'jaw, cheek'mkem 'cheek'
*mVn[a]-'be, live, stay'md-
*n(o,u)man 'mind, soul'noman 'soul'
*na '1SG'-n-, -in '1SG subj. agreement'
*niman 'louse'iman
*nok 'water'ñg
*nu '1PL independent'-nu-, -un '1PL subj. agreement'
*nV 'child'ñi 'son'
*nVŋg- 'know, hear, see'ng- (Ti dialect), nŋ- 'see, perceive, etc.'
*ŋaŋ[a] 'baby'-ŋaŋ 'baby'
*panV 'female'pañ 'daughter'
*sambV 'cloud'seb [semp]
*saŋ 'story, song'saŋ 'women's song'
*saŋgil 'hand, finger'(?) saglaŋ 'little finger'
*si(m,mb)(i,u) 'guts'sb [sɨmp]
*sisiss [sɨs] 'urine'
*sVkVm 'smoke'skum, sukum
*takVn[V] 'moon'takn [taɣɨn]
*tu 'axe'tu
*tuk- 'cut'tk- 'sever'
*tumuk, *kumut 'thunder'tumuk
*tVk- 'cut, cut off'tk- 'sever, cut off'
*-un '1st plural subject'-un
*-Vn '1SG subj. agreement'-n, -in
*walaka 'testicles'walak
*wani 'who?'an
*wati 'fence'wati
*yaka 'bird'yakt

Verbs

Kalam has eight tense-aspect categories. There are four past tenses, two present tenses, and two future tenses, which are all marked using suffixes: [7]

Intransitive verbs in Kalam can be classified as either active or stative. Some active intransitive verbs are: [7]

Some stative verbs are: [7]

Serial verb constructions

Transitivity is derived using resultative or cause-effect serial verb constructions. [7]

(1)

pak

strike

sug-

extinguished

pak sug-

strike extinguished

'put out a fire'

(2)

pak

strike

wk-

shattered

pak wk-

strike shattered

'knock something to bits, shatter something'

(3)

pug

blow

sug-

extinguished

pug sug-

blow extinguished

'blow out a flame'

(4)

puŋi

pierce

ask-

opened

puŋi ask-

pierce opened

'prise something open'

(5)

puŋi

pierce

lak-

split

puŋi lak-

pierce split

'split something by wedging or levering'

(6)

taw

step.on

pag

broken

yok-

displaced

taw pag yok-

step.on broken displaced

'break something off by stepping on it'

(7)

tb

cut

kluk

gouge

yok-

displaced

tb kluk yok-

cut gouge displaced

'gouge something out'

Other serial verb constructions in Kalam include: [7] : 117 

  • d ap (get come) 'bring'
  • d am (get go) 'take'
  • am d ap (go get come) 'fetch'
  • d nŋ (touch perceive) 'feel'
  • ñb nŋ (eat perceive) 'taste'
  • tb tk (cut sever) 'cut off'

Nouns

Compounds

Some examples of nominal compounds in Kalam: [7]

(1)

bin-b

woman-man

bin-b

woman-man

'person, people'

(2)

ña-pañ

son-daughter

ña-pañ

son-daughter

'child, children'

(3)

aps-basd

grandmother-grandfather

aps-basd

grandmother-grandfather

'grandparents'

(4)

ami-gon

mother-children

bapi-gon

father-children

ami-gon bapi-gon

mother-children father-children

'nuclear family, parents and children'

(5)

kmn-as

game.mammal-small.wild.mammal

kmn-as

game.mammal-small.wild.mammal

'wild mammals'

(6)

kaj-kayn-kobti

pig-dog-cassowary

kaj-kayn-kobti

pig-dog-cassowary

'large animals'

(7)

kmn-kaj-kobti

game.mammal-pig-cassowary

kmn-kaj-kobti

game.mammal-pig-cassowary

'animals that provide ceremonially valued meat'

(8)

mñ-mon

vine-tree

mñ-mon

vine-tree

'land, country, territory, world'

(9)

kneb

sleeping

ameb

going

owep

coming

wog

garden

wati

fence

gep

making

kneb ameb owep wog wati gep

sleeping going coming garden fence making

'everyday activities'

Animal names

Fauna classification (folk taxonomy) in the Kalam language has been extensively studied by Ralph Bulmer and others. Kalam speakers classify wild mammals into three major categories: [7]

Other animal categories are: [7]

Rodent names include: [6]

Marsupial names include: [6]

Reptile names and folk taxonomy in Kalam: [10]

Frog names in Kalam are: [9]

Note: Cophixalus shellyi , Choerophryne darlingtoni , and Oxydactyla brevicrus also tend to be identified by Kalam speakers as lk if calling from low vegetation, but as gwnm (usually applied to Cophixalus riparius and Xenorhina rostrata ) if found in daytime hiding spots. [9]

Plant categories include: [7]

A comprehensive list of Kalam plant and animal names is given below. [6]

Semantics

Colors

Kalam speakers distinguish more than a dozen color categories. [6]

Time

Pawley and Bulmer (2011), quoted in Pawley and Hammarström (2018), lists the following temporal adverbs in Kalam. [7] [6]

Morphology

Rhyming compounds

Kalam, like English, has different types of rhyming compounds. [7]

alternating consonants
addition of consonants
alternating vowels

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kalam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
  3. 1 2 Pawley, Andrew (2012). Hammarström, Harald; van den Heuvel, Wilco (eds.). "How reconstructable is proto Trans New Guinea? Problems, progress, prospects". History, Contact and Classification of Papuan Languages (Language & Linguistics in Melanesia Special Issue 2012: Part I). Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea: 88–164. hdl:1885/38602. ISSN   0023-1959.
  4. ↑ Majnep, Ian Saem; Bulmer, Ralph (1977). Birds of my Kalam Country[Mn̄mon Yad Kalam Yakt]. illustrations by Christopher Healey. New Zealand: Auckland University Press. pp. 150, 152. ISBN   9780196479538. OCLC   251862814.
  5. 1 2 Blevins, Juliette; Pawley, Andrew. "Typological Implications of Kalam Predictable Vowels" (PDF). julietteblevins.ws.gc.cuny.edu.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pawley, Andrew and Ralph Bulmer. 2011. A Dictionary of Kalam with Ethnographic Notes . Canberra. Pacific Linguistics.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pawley, Andrew; Hammarström, Harald (2018). "The Trans New Guinea family". 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. 21–196. ISBN   978-3-11-028642-7.
  8. ↑ Note: Data in Pawley (2012) is drawn from Pawley and Bulmer (2011).
  9. 1 2 3 4 Bulmer, Ralph N.H. and Michael Tyler. 1968. Karam classification of frogs Archived 2018-02-08 at the Wayback Machine . Journal of the Polynesian Society 77(4): 621–639.
  10. ↑ Bulmer, RNH (1975). Kalam Classification Of Reptiles And Fishes Archived 2020-12-01 at the Wayback Machine . Journal of the Polynesian Society 84(3): 267–308.

Further reading

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