Sikaritai language
| Sikaritai | |
|---|---|
| Tori Aikwakai | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | New Guinea |
Native speakers | 800 (1993)[1] |
|
Lakes Plain
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
tty |
| Glottolog |
sika1263[2] |
Sikaritai (Sikwari) is a Lakes Plain language of Papua, Indonesia. It is named after Sikari village. It's gone by various names: Aikwakai, Araikurioko, Ati, Tori, Tori Aikwakai.
Sikaritai, Obokuitai, and Eritai constitute a dialect cluster.
Phonology
The following discussion is based on Martin (1991).[3]
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | b | t d | k kʷ |
| Fricative | ɸ | s | |
| Approximant | w |
This small consonant inventory is typical of Lakes Plain languages.[4] The complete lack of nasals is also a feature of these languages.
Vowels
Sikaritai has six vowels.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid-high | e | ||
| Mid | ɛ | o | |
| Low | a |
Many other Lakes Plain languages have developed a series of extra high "fricativized" vowels from the loss of a final consonant.[4] In Sikaritai the final consonants have been retained; however, extra-high [i] and [u] appear as allophones of /i/ and /u/ before final /g/ and /d/. Martin postulates that Sikaritai is in the process of developing contrastive fricativized vowels as other Lakes Plain languages have done.
Tone
The language has a two-height tone system with H and L tone. More than one tonal element can appear on a single syllable.
Syllables
The syllable template is (C)(C)V(V)(C).
References
- ↑ Sikaritai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Sikaritai". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ↑ Martin, David (1991). "Sikaritai phonology". Workpapers in Indonesian Languages and Cultures. 9: 91–120.
- 1 2 Clouse, Duane (1997). "Toward a reconstruction and reclassification of the Lakes Plain languages of Irian Jaya". Papers in Papuan Linguistics. 3: 133–236.
