====== Nakai-Naki ======

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

===== Situation =====
**[NOTE: this article is being updated to include Naki material from Williamson (2010)]**

**[under construction]**

…in the Merauke Regency of Indonesia's Papua province

(Hughes 2009: 4, 11-12.) Nakai is spoken in at least two dialects, Nakai and Naki, named after their respective terms for "what?"

===== Sources =====
Jang (2003: 39-47) 239 comparative terms for Nagi of Kawor 2 village

Wilbrink (2004: 109a-110f) 239+ comparative terms for Sait (Nagi) and Nakai after Menanti

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

Williamson (2010) grammar of Nagi

===== 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 >|
|       |   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.\\
\\

Phonologically, the most conspicuous difference between Nakai and Naki is the loss of /*r/ in Naki, a devlopment shared with Ninggirum to the southeast.

===== Pronouns =====
Nakai-Naki free pronouns are reconstructed as follows, with Naki forms drawn from Williamson (2010: 12-13) and Nakai from Hughes (2009: 28-29) and Wilbrink (2004: 110a) respectively:

|< - 100px 100px 100px 100px 100px >|
|           |Nakai-Naki|Naki|Nakai (JH)|Nakai (AW)|
|1 sg.      |*ne       |ne  |ne        |nɛ        |
|2 sg. m.   |*ke-p     |kep |kɛp       |kɛp       |
|2 sg. f.   |*ku-p     |kup |?         |?         |
|3 sg. m.   |*e        |e   |?         |ɛ         |
|3 sg. f.   |*u        |u   |?         |?         |
|1 pl. excl.|*nu       |nu  |?         |?         |
|1 pl. incl.|*nu-p     |nup |nup̚      |?         |
|2 pl.      |*i-p      |ip  |ʔip       |?         |
|3 pl.      |*i        |i   |?         |i         |

===== Verbal morphology =====
…\\
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