Minigir language

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Minigir Vinitiri
Spoken in:	Papua New Guinea
Region:	Gazelle Peninsula, East New Britain Province
Total speakers:	~100,000
Language family:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Eastern Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic Meso-Melanesian New Ireland/Northwest Solomonic St George Patpatar-Tolai Minigir
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	`none`
ISO 639-2:	`none`
ISO 639-3:	`vmg`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

Minigir is spoken by a small number of the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province. It is often referred to in the linguistics literature as the Tolai dialect/language with an /s/.

1 Classification
2 Geographic distribution
3 Grammar
- 3.1 Independent Pronouns
- 3.2 Syntax
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Classification

Minigir belongs to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family. The most immediate subgroup is the Patpatar-Tolai group of languages which also includes Kuanua (also spoken on the Gazelle Peninsula) and Patpatar (spoken on New Ireland).

[edit] Geographic distribution

Minigir is spoken on Ataliklikun Bay, in the villages of Lungalunga, Kabaira and Vunamarita, located on the Gazelle Peninsula in the East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea.

[edit] Grammar

[edit] Independent Pronouns

Minigir pronouns have four number distinctions (singular, dual, trial and plural) and three person distinctions (first, second and third) as well as an inclusive/exclusive distinction. There are no gender distinctions.

	Singular	Dual	Trial	Plural
1st exclusive	iau (I)	iamiru (he/she and I)	iamitalu (both of them, and I)	iamamami (all of them, and I)
1st inclusive	-	iadori (thou and I)	iadatalu (both of you, and I)	iada (all of you, and I)
2nd	iavau (thou)	iamuru (you two)	iamutalu (you three)	iamui (you guys)
3rd	ia (he/she)	idiru (they two)	iditalu (they three)	idi (they)