Kemberano language

Kemberano
Weriagar, Barau
Native to	West Papua, Indonesia
Region	Bird's Head Peninsula
Native speakers	(2,500 including Dombano (possibly double counting) cited 1987) [1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea? Berau Gulf South Bird's Head Nuclear/East Kokoda–Arandai Arandai Kemberano
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bzp
Glottolog	kemb1235
Kemberano Show map of West Papua (province) Kemberano Show map of Western New Guinea Kemberano Show map of Indonesia
Coordinates: 2°14′S132°59′E / 2.24°S 132.99°E / -2.24; 132.99

Kemberano is a Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula of West Papua, Indonesia. ^[2]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t̪		k
	prenasal/vd.	ᵐb~b	ⁿ̪d̪~d̪	dʑ	ᵑɡ~ɡ
Fricative		β	ð		ɣ
Nasal		m	n
Flap			ɾ
Glide		(w)		(j)

Prenasal sounds /ᵐb,ⁿ̪d̪,ᵑɡ/ are mostly heard as prenasal in word-initial position and as voiced stops [b,d̪,ɡ] elsewhere.

• /ᵑɡ~ɡ/ can be heard as [ŋ] when the next consonant in a word is /ᵑɡ~ɡ/ or /n/.
• Stop sounds /p,k/ can also be heard as affricated sounds [pᶠ,kˣ] in free variation.
• Fricatives /β,ð,ɣ/ can also be heard as unarticulated voiced stops [b̚,d̪̚,ɡ̚] when in word-final position.
• Glides [w,j] occur as a result of vowels /i,u/ when preceding other vowels, or when in intervocalic positions.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	u
Mid	e	(ə)	o
Low		a

The five vowels /i,e,a,o,u/ can be heard as [ɪ,ɛ,ɑ,ɔ,ʊ] in unstressed positions. All of them may also be heard as a mid central [ə] in free variation in unstressed positions.

• /a/ can be heard as [æ] when within the vicinity of /i/.
• /i/ can be heard as [y] when within the vicinity of /u/. ^[3]

Morphology

Kemberano nouns are required to have the following concord suffixes: ^[2]

• –i (masculine nouns)
• –o (feminine nouns)

Examples (from Berry and Berry 1987: 86):

pogi

pig

enat-i

one-M

pogi enat-i

pig one-M

‘one pig’

uroko

stone

enat-o

one-F

uroko enat-o

stone one-F

‘one stone’

References

1. Kemberano at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian (2018). "The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird's Head". 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. 569–640. ISBN   978-3-11-028642-7.
3. Voorhoeve, C. L. (1985). Some Notes on the Arandai Language. Irian XIII. pp. 3–40.