Woisika language
| Woisika | |
|---|---|
| Kamang | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Alor Island |
Native speakers | 6,000 (2014)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
woi |
| Glottolog |
kama1365[2] |
Woisika, also known as Kamang, is a Papuan language of the Moluccas. Dialects are Lembur, Sibo, Kamang, Tiayai, Watang, Kamana-Kamang. They may constitute more than one language.
Speakers may prefer the term Kamang to refer to the speech community as a whole; Woisika is a village name.[3]
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ <ng> | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | (ʔ) <'> | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
| Fricative | ɸ <f> | s | (h) | |||
| Approximant | w | j <y> | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
/h/ and /ʔ/ are marginal. /r/ is rare in initial and final position. Word-final /s/ is only in loan words.
The consonant /ŋ/ is not found word-initially, and /f/ is not found word-finally.[4]
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | iː <ii> | u | uː <uu> | ||
| Mid | e | eː <ee> | o | oː <oo> | ||
| Open | a | aː <aa> | ||||
Grammar
Serial Verb Constructions
Kamang has serial verb constructions.
Mooi bong nok kok silang dii[5]:345 banana tree one fall.down descend lie 'A banana tree came falling down.'
Afunaa yakii me noowaai.[5]:348 a-funaa ga-kii me noo-waai. 3.PAT-face 3.PAT-turn come 3.AST-face 'Turn and face me.'
Valence
Examples with avalent, monovalent, bivalent, and trivalent verbs are shown below.[5]
Avalent
Itunma[5]:300 itun-ma late.afternoon-PFV 'It's late afternoon.'
Monovalent
Markus gamanteima[5]:301 Markus ga-mantei-ma Markus 3.PAT-thirst-PFV 'Markus is thirsty already.'
Bivalent
Na Markus gatakma.[5]:301 na Markus ga-tak-ma 1SG.AGT Markus 3.PAT-see-PFV 'I have seen Markus'
Trivalent
Markus patei me dumma wotulen.[5]:301 Markus patei me dum=a go-tulen Markus corn TAKE child=SPEC 3.LOC-divide 'Markus divides corn amongst the children.'
Riddles
Woisika riddles relate to animals, the human body, human artifacts, natural phenomena, crops and other foods, among others.[6]
References
- ↑ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
- ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Kamang". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ↑ Grimes, Charles (1997). A guide to the people and languages of Nusa Tenggara (PDF). Kupang: Artha Wacana Press.
- ↑ Stokhof, W.A.L. (1979). Woisika II Phonemics (PDF). Australian National University.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schapper, Antoinette (2014). "6 Kamang". The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Sketch Grammars 1: 285–349.
- ↑ Stokhof, W.A.L. (1982). Woisika Riddles (PDF). Australian National University.