Moi language

Last updated
Moi
Native to Indonesia
Region Papua
Native speakers
(4,600 cited 1993) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mxn
Glottolog moii1235

Moi is a West Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea.

Contents

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t k ( ʔ )
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative f s h
Approximant w l j
Trill r

[ʔ] is in free variation with /k/ in word-final position.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a ɑ

/i, u/ can also be heard as [ɪ, ʊ]. [2]

Morphology

Verb morphology

Verbs agree with the grammatical subject for person, number and, in the third-person, for gender. There are three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and non-human. For the third person plural, the gender distinction applies only for human vs. non-human. For the first person plural, there exists a two way clusivity distinction. The agreement markers are prefixes on the main verb. [3]

SingularPlural
1p.t-Incl.Excl.
w-m-
2p.n-
3p.Masculinew-y-
Femininem-
Non-humanp-n-
Moi subject agreement prefixes

Along with agreement prefixes cross-referencing the grammatical number of the subject, the verb stem itself can reflect number too: there may be one stem allomorph with front vowels (singular agreement) and one with back vowels (plural agreement).

(1a):

ne-dala

person-man

we-ben

3MSG-hit

ne-laagi

person-woman

ne-dala we-ben ne-laagi

person-man 3MSG-hit person-woman

'A man hit a woman' [4]

(1b):

ne-laagi

person-woman

me-ben

3FSG-hit

ne-dala

person-man

ne-laagi me-ben ne-dala

person-woman 3FSG-hit person-man

'A woman hit a man' [4]

(1c):

te-ben

1SG-hit

miye-kiyem

child-little

te-ben miye-kiyem

1SG-hit child-little

'I hit a child' [4]

(1d):

n-auk

2SG-place

p-au

3SG.NH-at.SG

kamaser

place.mat

n-auk p-au kamaser

2SG-place 3SG.NH-at.SG place.mat

'You put it on a place mat' [5]

(1e):

ne-Moi

person-Moi

y-eek

3PL.H-know

yawa

sago.tree

k-ow

PROX.DEM

ne-Moi y-eek yawa k-ow

person-Moi 3PL.H-know sago.tree PROX.DEM

'Moi people knew this sago tree' [6]

(1f):

aa-ya-faagu

DU-3PL.H-collect

kawak

stone

n-uu-s

3PL.NH-at.PL-PERF

ow

DEM

aa-ya-faagu kawak n-uu-s ow

DU-3PL.H-collect stone 3PL.NH-at.PL-PERF DEM

'They both collected stones there' [7]

(1g):

aa-m-oka

DU-1PL.EXCL-assume

aa-n-ankar

DU-2PL-cheat

mam

1PL.EXCL

aa-m-oka aa-n-ankar mam

DU-1PL.EXCL-assume DU-2PL-cheat 1PL.EXCL

'We both thought that the two of you cheated us' [7]

(1h):

ara

breadfruit.tree

n-eesin

3PL.NH-fruit

n-oolok

3PL.NH-fall

n-osu

3PL.NH-to

aali

below

ara n-eesin n-oolok n-osu aali

breadfruit.tree 3PL.NH-fruit 3PL.NH-fall 3PL.NH-to below

'Fruits of the breadfruit tree fell down'

As can be seen in the examples (1d) and (1f) and elaborated on by Menick, elements corresponding to prepositions in English share characteristics with verbs, which is why the conclusion can be made that the lexical category of adpositions is absent in Moi. [6]

Nominal morphology

Inalienable nouns are obligatorily marked by prefixes for the possessor agreement (see example (1h) ara n-eesin 'breadfruit fruits', literally 'breadfruit tree its fruits')

Negation

To negate a clause, the particle dau following the verb is used:

(2a):

ne-Moi

person-Moi

y-eek

3PL.H-know

dau

NEG

yawa

sago.tree

k-ow

PROX.DEM

ne-Moi y-eek dau yawa k-ow

person-Moi 3PL.H-know NEG sago.tree PROX.DEM

'Moi people did not know this sago tree' [6]

The same particle can also negate a noun phrase:

(2b):

ne-Moi

person-Moi

dau

NEG

y-eek

3PL.H-know

yawa

sago.tree

k-ow

PROX.DEM

ne-Moi dau y-eek yawa k-ow

person-Moi NEG 3PL.H-know sago.tree PROX.DEM

'not the Moi people knew this sago tree' [6]

(2c):

ne-Moi

person-Moi

y-eek

3PL.H-know

yawa

sago.tree

k-ow

PROX.DEM

dau

NEG

ne-Moi y-eek yawa k-ow dau

person-Moi 3PL.H-know sago.tree PROX.DEM NEG

'the Moi people knew not this sago tree' [6]

Aspect

The verb -ein indicates perfective aspect. It can also be indicated by the means of the suffix -s appended to the verb, cf ex. (1f) above.

(3):

ya-sak

3PL.H-cross

Kalasowo

river.name

aali-ow

below-DEM

p-ein

3SG.NH-finish

y-umu

3PL.H-leave:PL

ya-sak Kalasowo aali-ow p-ein y-umu

3PL.H-cross river.name below-DEM 3SG.NH-finish 3PL.H-leave:PL

'After they had crossed the Kalasowo river, they left.'
Literally: 'they crossed the Kalasowo river down there, it was finished, they left' [6]

Related Research Articles

Vaeakau-Taumako is a Polynesian language spoken in some of the Reef Islands as well as in the Taumako Islands in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands.

Taba is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the South Halmahera–West New Guinea group. It is spoken mostly on the islands of Makian, Kayoa and southern Halmahera in North Maluku province of Indonesia by about 20,000 people.

Manam is a Kairiru–Manam language spoken mainly on the volcanic Manam Island, northeast of New Guinea.

Tamambo, or Malo, is an Oceanic language spoken by 4,000 people on Malo and nearby islands in Vanuatu. It is one of the most conservative Southern Oceanic languages.

Yabem, or Jabêm, is an Austronesian language of Papua New Guinea.

Hoava is an Oceanic language spoken by 1000–1500 people on New Georgia Island, Solomon Islands. Speakers of Hoava are multilingual and usually also speak Roviana, Marovo, Solomon Islands Pijin, English.

Ughele is an Oceanic language spoken by about 1200 people on Rendova Island, located in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangime language</span> Language isolate of southeastern Mali

Bangime is a language isolate spoken by 3,500 ethnic Dogon in seven villages in southern Mali, who call themselves the bàŋɡá–ndɛ̀. Bangande is the name of the ethnicity of this community and their population grows at a rate of 2.5% per year. The Bangande consider themselves to be Dogon, but other Dogon people insist they are not. Bangime is an endangered language classified as 6a - Vigorous by Ethnologue. Long known to be highly divergent from the (other) Dogon languages, it was first proposed as a possible isolate by Blench (2005). Heath and Hantgan have hypothesized that the cliffs surrounding the Bangande valley provided isolation of the language as well as safety for Bangande people. Even though Bangime is not closely related to Dogon languages, the Bangande still consider their language to be Dogon. Hantgan and List report that Bangime speakers seem unaware that it is not mutually intelligible with any Dogon language.

Biak, also known as Biak-Numfor, Noefoor, Mafoor, Mefoor, Nufoor, Mafoorsch, Myfoorsch and Noefoorsch, is an Austronesian language of the South Halmahera-West New Guinea subgroup of the Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages.

Paamese, or Paama, is the language of the island of Paama in Northern Vanuatu. There is no indigenous term for the language; however linguists have adopted the term Paamese to refer to it. Both a grammar and a dictionary of Paamese have been produced by Terry Crowley.

Adang is a Papuan language spoken on the island of Alor in Indonesia. The language is agglutinative. The Hamap dialect is sometimes treated as a separate language; on the other hand, Kabola, which is sociolinguistically distinct, is sometimes included. Adang, Hamap and Kabola are considered a dialect chain. Adang is endangered as fewer speakers raise their children in Adang, instead opting for Indonesian.

Buru or Buruese is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Central Maluku branch. In 1991 it was spoken by approximately 45,000 Buru people who live on the Indonesian island of Buru. It is also preserved in the Buru communities on Ambon and some other Maluku Islands, as well as in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and in the Netherlands.

Ledo Kaili is the largest member of the Kaili languages, which are a dialect chain within the Kaili–Pamona language family. These languages are spoken in Central Sulawesi (Indonesia). Kaili with all of its dialects is one of the largest languages in Sulawesi. One third of the population of Sulawesi Tengah province were (1979) native speakers of a Kaili language. The object language of this article is the main dialect Ledo, which is spoken in the Donggala and Sigi districts (Kabupaten) in and around the provincial capital Palu.

Buli, or Kanjaga, is a Gur language of Ghana primarily spoken in the Builsa District, located in the Upper East Region of the country. It is an SVO language and has 200 000 speakers.

Mavea is an Oceanic language spoken on Mavea Island in Vanuatu, off the eastern coast of Espiritu Santo. It belongs to the North–Central Vanuatu linkage of Southern Oceanic. The total population of the island is approximately 172, with only 34 fluent speakers of the Mavea language reported in 2008.

Dom is a Trans–New Guinea language of the Eastern Group of the Chimbu family, spoken in the Gumine and Sinasina Districts of Chimbu Province and in some other isolated settlements in the western highlands of Papua New Guinea.

North Moluccan Malay is a Malay-based creole language spoken on Ternate, Tidore, Halmahera, and Sula Islands, North Maluku for intergroup communications. The local name of the language is Bahasa Pasar, and the name Ternate Malay is also used, after the main ethnic group speaking the language. Since North Moluccan Malay is used primarily for spoken communication, there is no standardized orthography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toʼabaita language</span> Malaita language of the Solomon Islands

Toʼabaita, also known as Toqabaqita, Toʼambaita, Malu and Maluʼu, is a language spoken by the people living at the north-western tip of Malaita Island, of South Eastern Solomon Islands. Toʼabaita is an Austronesian language.

Lengo is a Southeast Solomonic language of Guadalcanal.

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.

References

  1. Moi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Menick, Raymond (1995). Moi, a language of the West Papuan phylum: A preview. Baak, Connie and Bakker, Mary and van der Meij, Dick (eds.), Tales from a concave world: Liber amicorum Bert Voorhoeve: Leiden University. pp. 55–73.
  3. Menick, Raymond H. (1996). "Verb sequences in Moi" (PDF). Studies in Irian languages. 1: 41.
  4. 1 2 3 Menick (1996), p. 42
  5. Menick (1996), p. 47
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Menick (1996), p. 43
  7. 1 2 Menick (1996), p. 50