Siar-Lak language

Last updated
Siar
Lak
ep warwar anun dat
Native to Papua New Guinea
Region New Ireland Province
Native speakers
2,100 (2000 census) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 sjr
Glottolog siar1238

Siar, also known as Lak, Lamassa, or Likkilikki, is an Austronesian language spoken in New Ireland Province in the southern island point of Papua New Guinea. Lak is in the Patpatar-Tolai sub-group, which then falls under the New Ireland-Tolai group in the Western Oceanic language, a sub-group within the Austronesian family. [2] The Siar people keep themselves sustained and nourished by fishing and gardening. [3] The native people call their language ep warwar anun dat, which means 'our language'. [4]

Contents

Phonology

Siar-Lak contains fifteen consonants, and five vowels, which does not include the mid-high vowel pronunciations of /é/ and /ó/.

Consonant phonemes [3]
BilabialDental-
Alveolar
PalatalVelar
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosivevoiceless p t k
voiced b d g
Fricative ɸ s
Lateral l
Trill r
Glide w j
Vowel phonemes
FrontCentralBack
High i u
Mid-high
Mid e o
Low a

The vowel /ẹ/ can be thought to be pronounced in between the high vowel /I/ and the mid vowel /E/, as well as /ọ/ being in between the high vowel /U/ and the mid vowel /O/, according to the native people in Papua New Guinea. [3] can be written as é, and can also be written as . Knowing which vowel is used when writing is critical, as two words that are similar can have completely different meanings. For example, rowoi means to 'carry in arms', while rówói means 'to fly'. Also, toh has a meaning of 'to be able', while tóh means 'sugarcane'. [3]

Stress and phonotactics

Stress is placed on the last syllable in each word. Examples of words broken down into syllables and translated include:

Siar-LakEnglish
mam.su.ai'sneeze'
ar.ngas'mountain peak'
far.bón'praise'
fet.rar'young woman'

Syllable structures

Siar Lak contains four different types of syllable patterns in their word vocabulary, which include V(vowel), VC(vowel consonant), CV(consonant vowel), and CVC(consonant vowel consonant). Some examples include:

Siar LakEnglish
Vu'you'
a.im'to plant'
a.i.nói'to fill'
VCep'article'
ar.ngas'mountain'
la.un'to live'
CVma'now'
kó.bót'morning'
ka.bu.suk'my nose'
la.tu'tomorrow'
CVCpóp'puddle'
gósgós'to dance'
la.man.tin'great'
ka.kau'to crawl'

[3]

Numerical system

Numbers 1–10
SiarEnglish
i tikOne
i ruTwo
i tólThree
i atFour
i limFive
i wonSix
i isSeven
i wolEight
i siwokNine
sanguli or i tik ep bónótTen

[3]

Numbers 10–100
SiarEnglish
i tik ep bónótTen
i ru ru bónótTwenty
i tól ep bónótThirty
i at ep bónótForty
i lim ep bónótFifty
i won ep bónótSixty
i is ep bónótSeventy
i wol ep bónótEighty
i siwok ep bónótNinety
i tik ep marOne hundred

Orthography

Orthography is the way words are written, using the appropriate letters from a specific language while following usage rules. If the consonant phoneme /φ/ is used at the beginning of a word, that word starts with an f, but if it is found at the end of a word, it is then replaced with the letter h. An example of this is ep φun, which makes the phrase ep fun, meaning 'banana (plant)', but when it is found at the end of a word, as in ep yaφ, it becomes ep yah, meaning 'fire'. [3]

Pronouns

Independent pronouns [3]
SingularDualTrial/PaucalPlural
1st personexclusiveya(u)/ amara(u)mató~matólmét
inclusivedara(u)datóldat
2nd personuaura(u)amtólamat
3rd personPersonalidira(u)diatdit
Impersonaldi
Inanimate, massin

Example sentence:

Yau,

1S

a

1S

rak

want

al

1S.POT

an

at

ka-sai

DIR-west

an

at

Kokopo.

Kokopo

Yau, a rak al an ka-sai an Kokopo.

1S 1S want 1S.POT at DIR-west at Kokopo

'As for me, I want to go to Kokopo.' [3]

Verb phrases

Two types of verb phrases include intransitive and transitive verbs. An intransitive verb is used when there is no direct object, while a transitive verb is used when there is a direct object action taking place. An intransitive verb for 'eat' would be angan, while a transitive verb for 'eat' would be yan.

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References

  1. Siar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Lean 1991
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rowe 2005
  4. "Siar language and alphabet". www.omniglot.com.