| Kwomtari | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
Papua New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification: | perhaps Left May – Kwomtari or Kwomtari–Fas
|
| Subdivisions: |
Kwomtari–Nai
|
The Kwomtari languages are a small language family of Papua New Guinea.
Contents |
The family consists of the highly divergent language Guriaso, and the two closely related languages Kwomtari and Nai:
There has been confusion over the membership of the Kwomtari family, apparently due to a misalignment in the publication (Loving & Bass 1964) of the data used for the initial classification. (See Baron 1983.) The Kwomtari languages are generally classified as part of a larger as yet unproven Kwomtari–Fas family, which confusingly is also often called "Kwomtari" in the literature. However, Baron sees no evidence that the similarities are due to relationship. See Kwomtari–Fas languages for details.
Guriaso shares a small number of cognates with Kwomtari–Nai. However, the evidence is convincing once a correspondence between /ɾ~l/ and /n/ (from *ɾ) is established:
| Gloss | Guriaso | Kwomtari |
|---|---|---|
| Verb suffixes (1pl, 2pl, 3pl) |
-nɔ, -mɛ, -no | -ɾe, -mo, -ɾe* |
| dog | map | mau |
| ear | mətɛnu | futɛne |
| crocodile | mɔməni | maməle |
| small | tɔkəno | tɔkweɾo |
| nose | apədu | tipu** |
* Compare Biaka -ɾo, -mo, -na.
** Metathesis of /p/ and /t/.
Spencer (2008) is a short grammar of Kwomtari. The language has an AOV constituent order and nominative–accusative alignment. Both subjects and objects are marked suffixally on the verb. Verbs are inflected for status (mood) rather than for tense or aspect.