====== Nakai ======

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

===== Situation =====
**[under construction]**\\
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…in the Merauke Regency of Indonesia's Papua province

(Hughes 2009: 4, 11-12.) The term Nakai means "what?"

===== Sources =====
Wilbrink (2004: 109a-110f) 239+ comparative terms for Nakai

Hughes (2009: 27-37) 239 comparative terms for Nakai of Burunggop

===== Phonology =====
There is no published phonology of Nakai. Based upon comparason to Naki and Tangko, Nakai likely has 10 or 12 consonants and 5 vowels as follows:

|< - 60px 60px 60px 60px >|
|   m   |   n   |     |      |
|  [p]  |   t   |  s  |  k   |
|  mb   |  nd   |     |  ŋg  |
|   w   |  [r]  |  j  |      |


|< - 60px 60px 60px >|
|  i  |     |  u  |
|  ɛ  |     |  ɔ  |
|     |  a  |     |

As [mb] only occurs initially, and [p] only occurs finally, it would be synchronically reasonable to view them as allophones of a single phoneme, although historically this isn't the case.

===== Pronouns =====
Hughes (2009: 28-29) and Wilbrink (2004: 110a) give Nakai pronouns as follows:

|< - 100px 100px 100px >|
|     |Nakai (JH)|Nakai (AW)|
|1 sg.|ne        |nɛ        |
|2 sg.|kɛp       |kɛp       |
|3 sg.|?         |ɛ         |
|1 pl.|nup̚      |?         |
|2 pl.|ʔip       |?         |
|3 pl.|?         |i         |

Neither Hughes nor Wilbrink give feminine forms or distinguish inclusive from exclusive in the first person plural. Otherwise, these pronouns are identical to those of Naki (q.v. Williamson 2010: 12-13.)

===== Verbal morphology =====
No information has been published about Nakai verbal morphology.\\
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