====== Lembena ======

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

===== Situation =====
Lembena is spoken by approximately 1,500 people (1998) straddling the border of Papua New Guinea's Enga and East Sepik Provinces just west of the Yuat River and Madang Province. The designation "Lembena" properly indicates only one of ten Lembena-speaking clans, which happened to be the first one contacted by a linguist (Heineman 1998: 7.)

===== Sources =====
Davies and Comrie (1985: 283-311) 116 comparative terms for three varieties of Lembena, Maibi of Yambaido village, Yariba of Erim village and Lembena of Kopaipalu village after J.M. Bowers

Heineman and Heineman (1994) sketch phonology of Lembena

Heineman (1998) grammar of Lembena

Franklin (2015) dictionary of Lembena\\
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Additionally, the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Ukarumpa provides an undated and unattributed sketch phonology of Lembena, with data recapitulating Heineman and Heineman (1994.)

===== Phonology =====
Heineman (1998: 8-9) gives 14 consonants and 5 vowels for Lembena as follows:

|< - 60px 60px 60px 60px >|
|  m   |  n   |  ɲ  |      |
|  p   |  t   |  s  |  k   |
|  mb  |  nd  |     |  ŋg  |
|      |  l   |  ʎ  |      |
|  w   |      |  j  |      |


|< - 60px 60px 60px >|
|  i  |     |  u  |
|  e  |     |  o  |
|     |  a  |     |

Medial /t/ is realized as alveolar flap [ɾ]. Medial /l/ is realized as lateral flap /ɺ/, except when adjacent to /i/ where it is not distinguished from palatal /ʎ/. /ndi/ when followed by another vowel is realized as an affricate [ndʒ].

Neither final consonants nor consonant clusters occur.\\
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As in Tsaka and Kyaka Enga, final vowels are typically devoiced.\\
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Contrastive tone or stress are not attested, but given the presence of tone in the closely-related Enga as well in Enga-Southern Highlands, it cannot be ruled out that it exists but has been overlooked.

===== Pronouns =====
Heineman (1998: 14-15) gives Lembena pronouns as follows. There is no distinction between second and third person dual and plural forms, respectively:

|< - 100px 100px 100px 100px 100px >|
|       |nominative|            |possessive|              |
|       |base      |augmented   |base      |augmented     |
|1 sg.  |na:       |na-mba(la)  |na-ŋga    |na-mbala-ŋga  |
|2 sg.  |ni:       |ni-mba(la)  |ni-ŋga    |ni-mbala-ŋga  |
|3 sg.  |mba:      |mbala       |mba-ŋga   |mbala-ŋga     |
|1 pl.  |nani      |nani-mba(la)|nani-ŋga  |nani-mbala-ŋga|
|2/3 pl.|ɲa:       |ɲa-mba(la)  |ɲa-ŋga    |ɲa-mbala-ŋga  |
|1 dl.  |nali      |nali-mba(la)|nali-ŋga  |nali-mbala-ŋga|
|2/3 dl.|nili      |nili-mba(la)|nili-ŋga  |nili-mbala-ŋga|

Heineman treats the base forms as shortened versions of what we label here as augmented forms, but historically the base forms are original.

===== Verbal morphology =====
Heineman (1998: 24-35) presents desinences for the final declarative forms of two roots, /na/ "consume" and /pi/ "do", as follows:

|< - 100px 100px 100px 100px 100px 100px >|
|           |far past |near past|immediate past|present    |future    |
|1 sg.      |n-a-we   |n-e-we   |na-la-we      |n-ele-we   |n-opo-we  |
|2 sg.      |n-a-e-ne |n-e-Ø-ne |na-la-e-ne    |n-el-e-ne  |n-op-e-ne |
|3 sg.      |n-a-me   |n-e-me   |na-la-me      |n-ele-me   |n-o:-me   |
|1 pl.      |n-a-ma-ne|n-e-ma-ne|na-la-ma-ne   |n-ele-ma-ne|n-o:-ma-ne|
|2 pl./3 pl.|n-a-mi-ne|n-e-mi-ne|na-la-mi-ne   |n-ele-mi-ne|n-o:-mi-ne|
|1 dl.      |n-a-pa-ne|n-e-pa-ne|na-la-pa-ne   |n-ele-pa-ne|n-o:-pa-ne|
|2 dl./3 dl.|n-a-pi-ne|n-e-pi-ne|na-la-pi-ne   |n-ele-pi-ne|n-o:-pi-ne|


|< - 100px 100px 100px 100px 100px 100px >|
|           |far past  |near past|immediate past|present    |future    |
|1 sg.      |pi-a-we   |p-i-we   |pi-la-we      |p-ili-we   |pi-po-we  |
|2 sg.      |pi-a-e-ne |p-i-Ø-ne |pi-la-e-ne    |p-il-i-ne  |pi-p-e-ne |
|3 sg.      |pi-a-me   |p-i-me   |pi-la-me      |p-ili-me   |pi-o-me   |
|1 pl.      |pi-a-ma-ne|p-i-ma-ne|pi-la-ma-ne   |p-ili-ma-ne|pi-o-ma-ne|
|2 pl./3 pl.|pi-a-mi-ne|p-i-mi-ne|pi-la-mi-ne   |p-ili-mi-ne|pi-o-mi-ne|
|1 dl.      |pi-a-pa-me|p-i-pa-ne|pi-la-pa-ne   |p-ili-pa-ne|pi-o-pa-ne|
|2 dl./3 dl.|pi-a-pi-ne|p-i-pi-ne|pi-la-pi-ne   |p-ili-pi-ne|pi-o-pi-ne|

From these can be discerned the following underlying tense forms, with variations above conditioned by the final vowel of the root (Heineman 1998: 24):

|< - 100px 100px >|
|far past      |-a-  |
|near past     |-e-  |
|immediate past|-la- |
|present       |-ele-|
|future        |-opo-|

Heineman gives /-ala-/ immediate past because verb /na/ (< /*na/) is interpreted as merely /n-/; comparison to Enga-Kyaka shows /*la/ to be original. The variant /o:/ in the future form is presumably conditioned by the presence of a following labial /m p/.\\
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The underlying forms of the personal subject indicators are as follows (Heineman 1998: 28):

|< - 100px 100px >|
|1 sg.      |-we|
|2 sg.      |-e |
|3 sg.      |-me|
|1 pl.      |-ma|
|2 pl./3 pl.|-mi|
|1 dl.      |-pa|
|2 dl./3 dl.|-pi|

Imperative forms of /na/ and /pi/ are as follows (Heineman 1998: 30-32):

|< - 100px 100px 100px >|
|1 sg.|na-wa  |pi-wa  |
|2 sg.|na-:   |pi-a   |
|3 sg.|n-ena  |p-ina  |
|1 pl.|na-ma  |pi-ma  |
|2 pl.|na-lapa|pi-lapa|
|3 pl.|n-ena  |p-ina  |
|1 dl.|na-mba |pi-mba |
|2 dl.|na-lapa|pi-lapa|
|3 dl.|n-ena  |p-ina  |