Mansim language

Last updated
Mansim
mor Moi
Native to Papua
RegionEastern Bird's Head near Manokwari
Native speakers
50? (2010) [1]
West Papuan
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Glottolog mans1260
Location map Indonesia Bird's Head Peninsular.png
Red pog.svg
Mansim
Indonesia Western New Guinea location map.png
Red pog.svg
Mansim
Southeast Asia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Mansim
Coordinates: 0°55′S134°01′E / 0.92°S 134.01°E / -0.92; 134.01

Mansim, also known as Borai or Moi Brai, is a West Papuan language of the eastern Bird's Head Peninsula closely related to Hattam. As of 2010 there are rumours of 50 elderly speakers. [1]

Contents

Phonology

Mansim has five vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/, and 16 consonants. [2]

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop voiceless p t ( c ) k
voiced b d ( ɟ ) g
Fricative s ( h )
Semivowel j w
Liquid r ~ l

The status of /c, ɟ, h/ is uncertain, due to the single instance in the supporting text.

Like other Papuan languages, Mansim lacks a distinction between /r/ and /l/.

Stress

Mansim could have a tonal difference between homophones, since the various instances of bar ('something,' 'carry,' 'not') and tan ('inside,' 'far,' 'afraid') could need the use of a different pitch, but this is not seen in the data, although it is restricted. Stress seems to be placed in an iambic pattern over the clause, with stress placed on the second syllable. This means that person prefixes and first syllables of polysyllabilic words, with the exception of full personal pronouns, are unstressed. Citation markers and possessive pronouns can be stressed, but major categories like nouns and verbs do not necessarily attract main stress.

Grammar

The basic word order of Mansim is SOV (subject-object-verb). In the noun phrase, the possessive pronoun is after the nominal position. [2]

Related Research Articles

Fijian language Austronesian language of Fiji

Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken by some 350,000–450,000 ethnic Fijians as a native language. The 2013 Constitution established Fijian as an official language of Fiji, along with English and Fiji Hindi, and there is discussion about establishing it as the "national language". Fijian is a VOS language.

Shoshoni language Uto-Aztecan language spoken in western US

Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshone people. Shoshoni is primarily spoken in the Great Basin, in areas of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.

West Papuan languages Language family of Indonesia

The West Papuan languages are a proposed language family of about two dozen non-Austronesian languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula of far western New Guinea, the island of Halmahera and its vicinity, spoken by about 220,000 people in all. It is not established if they constitute a proper linguistic family or an areal network of genetically unrelated families.

Mantion–Meax languages Language family of New Guinea

The Mantion–Meax or (South)East Bird's Head languages are a language family of three languages in the "Bird's Head Peninsula" of western New Guinea, spoken by all together 20,000 people.

Sulka is a language isolate of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. In 1991, there were 2,500 speakers in eastern Pomio District, East New Britain Province. Villages include Guma in East Pomio Rural LLG. With such a low population of speakers, this language is considered to be endangered. Sulka speakers had originally migrated to East New Britain from New Ireland.

The Yimas language is spoken by the Yimas people, who populate the Sepik River Basin region of Papua New Guinea. It is spoken primarily in Yimas village, Karawari Rural LLG, East Sepik Province. It is a member of the Lower-Sepik language family. All 250-300 speakers of Yimas live in two villages along the lower reaches of the Arafundi River, which stems from a tributary of the Sepik River known as the Karawari River.

The Owa language is a language of the Solomon Islands. It is part of the same dialect continuum as Kahua, and shares the various alternate names of that dialect.

Hidatsa is an endangered Siouan language that is related to the Crow language. It is spoken by the Hidatsa tribe, primarily in North Dakota and South Dakota.

Maybrat is a Papuan language spoken in the central parts of the Bird's Head Peninsula in the Indonesian province of West Papua.

West Makian is a divergent North Halmahera language of Indonesia. It is spoken on the coast near Makian Island, and on the western half of that island.

Meyah (Meax) is a West Papuan language spoken in Miyah District, Tambrauw Regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The Meyah language is agglutinative and head-marking and has no grammatical cases. It has subject-object-verb word order, which comes from nearby Austronesian languages.

Ramarama, also known as Karo, is a Tupian language of Brazil.

Bukiyip (Bukiyúp), or Mountain Arapesh, is an Arapesh language (Torricelli) spoken by around 16,000 people between Yangoru and Maprik in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. Bukiyip follows the SVO typology. The Arapesh languages are known for their complex noun-phrase agreement system.

Tawala is an Oceanic language of the Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. It is spoken by 20,000 people who live in hamlets and small villages on the East Cape peninsula, on the shores of Milne Bay and on areas of the islands of Sideia and Basilaki. There are approximately 40 main centres of population each speaking the same dialect, although through the process of colonisation some centres have gained more prominence than others.

Grass Koiari (Koiali) is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea spoken in the inland Port Moresby area. It is not very close to the other language which shares its name, Mountain Koiali. It is considered a threatened language.

Vamale (Pamale) is a Kanak language of northern New Caledonia. The Hmwaeke dialect, spoken in Tiéta, is fusing with Haveke and nearly extinct. Vamale is nowadays spoken in Tiendanite, We Hava, Téganpaïk and Tiouandé. It was spoken in the Pamale valley and its tributaries Vawe and Usa until the colonial of war of 1917, when its speakers were displaced.

Musom is an Austronesian language spoken in the single village of Musom in Labuta Rural LLG, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The other name for Musom is Misatik, given by the older generations because this was the name of the village that the ancestors settled on. Musom is currently an endangered language due to the fact that native Musom speakers are continuing to marry other language speakers. Musom is also endangered because of its change in grammar and vocabulary due to its bi- and multilingualism. In the Musom village, other languages that Musom speakers may speak are Aribwuang and Duwet. In the Gwabadik village, because of intermarriages other languages that Musom speakers may speak are Nabak and Mesem.

Neverver (Nevwervwer), also known as Lingarak, is an Oceanic language. Neverver is spoken in Malampa Province, in central Malekula, Vanuatu. The names of the villages on Malekula Island where Neverver is spoken are Lingarakh and Limap.

Saliba is an Oceanic language spoken on the islets off the southeastern tip of Papua New Guinea. There are approximately 2,500 speakers of Saliba. Significant documentation of the language was undertaken by the Saliba-Logea documentation project, and hundreds of audio-video resources can be found in the project archive.

Turkmen grammar is the grammar of the Turkmen language, whose dialectal variants are spoken in Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and others. Turkmen grammar, as described in this article, is the grammar of standard Turkmen as spoken and written by Turkmen people in Turkmenistan.

References

  1. 1 2 Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
  2. 1 2 Reesink 2002.