Moi | |
---|---|
Native to | Indonesia |
Region | Southwest 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.
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.
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]
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]
Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1p. | t- | Incl. | Excl. | |
w- | m- | |||
2p. | n- | |||
3p. | Masculine | w- | y- | |
Feminine | m- | |||
Non-human | p- | n- |
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).
aa-ya-faagu
DU-3PL.H-collect
kawak
stone
n-uu-s
3PL.NH-at.PL-PERF
ow
DEM
'They both collected stones there' [7]
aa-m-oka
DU-1PL.EXCL-assume
aa-n-ankar
DU-2PL-cheat
mam
1PL.EXCL
'We both thought that the two of you cheated us' [7]
ara
breadfruit.tree
n-eesin
3PL.NH-fruit
n-oolok
3PL.NH-fall
n-osu
3PL.NH-to
aali
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]
Inalienable nouns are obligatorily marked by prefixes for the possessor agreement (see example (1h) ara n-eesin 'breadfruit fruits', literally 'breadfruit tree its fruits')
To negate a clause, the particle dau following the verb is used:
ne-Moi
person-Moi
y-eek
3PL.H-know
dau
NEG
yawa
sago.tree
k-ow
PROX.DEM
'Moi people did not know this sago tree' [6]
The same particle can also negate a noun phrase:
ne-Moi
person-Moi
dau
NEG
y-eek
3PL.H-know
yawa
sago.tree
k-ow
PROX.DEM
'not the Moi people knew this sago tree' [6]
ne-Moi
person-Moi
y-eek
3PL.H-know
yawa
sago.tree
k-ow
PROX.DEM
dau
NEG
'the Moi people knew not this sago tree' [6]
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.
ya-sak
3PL.H-cross
Kalasowo
river.name
aali-ow
below-DEM
p-ein
3SG.NH-finish
y-umu
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]
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 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.
Numbami is an Austronesian language spoken by about 200 people with ties to a single village in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in Siboma village, Paiawa ward, Morobe Rural LLG.
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.
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 of the Timor–Alor–Pantar language family 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.
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.
Medumba is a Bamileke language of Cameroon. The people who speak it originate from the Nde division of the West Region of the country, with their main settlements in Bangangté, Bakong, Bangoulap, Bahouoc, Bagnoun and Tonga. It is a major Bamileke language, and is located in an area where sacred kingship played a pivotal role in government, justice, and diplomacy. The modern history of the Bamileke area, which was a German colony placed under French trusteeship by the League of Nations in 1919, is closely associated with the nationalist movement of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), which developed primarily in the coastal hinterland (Bassa) and the western highlands (Bamileke). From 1956 to the late 1960s, this area of Cameroon experienced a period of unrest; this episode continues to shape Bamileke political culture, and has an impact on language identity and the linguistic landscape.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Baluan-Pam is an Oceanic language of Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. It is spoken on Baluan Island and on nearby Pam Island. The number of speakers, according to the latest estimate based on the 2000 Census, is 2,000. Speakers on Baluan Island prefer to refer to their language with its native name Paluai.
Lengo or informally known as "Doku" is an Oceanic language spoken on the island of Guadalcanal. It belongs to the Southeast Solomonic language family.