Kairiru language

Kairiru is one of three Kairiru languages spoken mainly on Kairiru and Mushu islands and in several coastal villages on the mainland between Cape Karawop and Cape Samein near Wewak in East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea.

Kairiru
RegionEast Sepik Province, northern Papua New Guinea
Native speakers
3,200 (2000 census)[1]
Austronesian
Language codes
ISO 639-3kxa
Glottologkair1263
ELPKairiru

Phonology

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Velar Back-
velar
Plosive b t k k̠
Affricate tʃ
Fricative voiceless ɸ s (ʃ)
voiced β
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Lateral l
Rhotic ɾ r (ɻ)
Approximant w j
  • The tap /ɾ/ varies freely between [ɾ] or a retroflex [ɻ].
  • [ʃ] is heard as an allophone of /tʃ/ among young speakers.[2]
  • /b/ is heard as [p] in word-final position.
  • /k/ may vary between a voiced [ɡ] or [k] when in between a high and non-high vowel.[3]
  • The back-velar /k̠/ may also be heard freely as uvular [q], and may vary between a stop or fricatives [k̠], [x̠] or voiced [ɡ̠], [ɣ̠] when preceded and followed by /a/ or /o/.[3]

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e (ə) o
Low a
  • Sounds /i, u, e, o/ may have lax allophones as [ɪ, ʊ, ɛ, ɔ] in closed syllables.
  • Vowels /e, o/ may have a lax allophone of [ə] when following other vowels.
  • /a/ may be heard as [æ] when preceding a velar nasal /ŋ/ in free variation with [a].[2]

Morphology

Pronouns and person markers

One remarkable feature of the pronoun system of Kairiru is that it appears to have lost the distinction between first-person inclusive and exclusive pronouns throughout its affix paradigms, but then recreated inclusive forms in its independent pronouns by combining first-person and second-person forms along the lines of Tok Pisin yumi (< yu + mi). The inclusive-exclusive distinction is almost universal among Austronesian languages but generally lacking in Papuan languages.

Free pronouns
Person Singular Plural Dual
1st person inclusive taqam tuyieq
1st person exclusive kyau qait tu
2nd person yieq qam qum
3rd person ei rri rru

Genitive pronouns
Person Singular Plural Dual
1st person inclusive taqait taqatu
1st person exclusive wokyau tamoit taqatu
2nd person yieqayieq maqam moqum
3rd person yaqai rraqarri rraqarru

Possessive suffixes on inalienable nouns
Person Singular Plural Dual
1st person inclusive -qait -tu
1st person exclusive -k -qait -tu
2nd person -m -qam -qum
3rd person -ny -rri -rru

Subject prefixes on verbs
Person Singular Plural Dual
1st person inclusive ta- ti-
1st person exclusive wu- ta- ti-
2nd person qo- ka- qu-
3rd person a- rra- rri-

Object suffixes on verbs
Person Singular Plural Dual
1st person inclusive -qait -tu
1st person exclusive -(ky)au -qait -tu
2nd person -(y)ieq -qam -qum
3rd person -i/-Ø -rri/-Ø -rru

References
  1. Kairiru at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Wivell, Richard (1981). Kairiru grammar. University of Auckland.
  3. Ross, Malcolm (2002). Kairiru. In John Lynch and Malcolm Ross and Terry Crowley (eds.), The Oceanic Languages: Routledge: London and New York. pp. 204–215.
  • Wivell, Richard (1981). Kairiru grammar. M.A. thesis, University of Auckland.
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