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.

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/.

Contents

[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)

[edit] Syntax

The usual word order of Minigir is SVO.

[edit] References

[edit] External links