Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Kyaka Enga is spoken by 10,000 to 12,000 people (2002) living northwest of Mount Hagen in the Baiyer River valley (Kumbareta) and Lumusa plateau (Paisa) in Papua New Guinea's Western Highlands Province (Draper and Draper 2002: 1.) Kyaka's closest relative is Tsaka Enga. According to Draper and Draper, Baiyer River Kyaka forms a continuum with the Sau dialect, which is phonologically a variety of Tsaka, not of Kyaka, and the dialect of the Lapolama-Kompiam areas to the west.
Davies and Comrie (1985: 283-311) 116 comparative terms for Lumusa variety of Kyaka after L. A. Cupit
Conrad and Lewis (1988: 260-264) 104 comparative terms under the name Enga
Draper and Draper (2002) Kyaka dictionary and extensive grammar notes from Yakasimanda village
Draper and Draper (2002: 1-5) give 14 consonants and 6 vowels for Kyaka as follows:
| m | n | ŋ | |
| p | ɾ | s | k |
| mb | nd | ndʒ | ŋg |
| ɺ | |||
| w | j |
| i | ɨ | u |
| e | o | |
| a |
Palatal nasal and lateral /ɲ ʎ/ are not recognized; phonetic [ɲ ʎ] occur, but are interpreted by Draper and Draper as sequences /nj ɺj/. Neither these nor /s ndʒ/ are original, being conditioned entirely by neighboring vowels, such that palatalized /nʲ tʲ ndʲ ɺʲʲ/ are probably the best underlying analysis.
The phoneme given as /ɾ/ is realized as [tɾ] initially, and is from a structural perspective equivalent to /t/; hence its placement in the chart above.
Velar nasal /ŋ/ is marginal, and cannot be identified with any proto-Trans Enga segment.
Neither final consonants nor consonant clusters occur.
High central /ɨ/ is orthographically <ua>, and historically reflects /a/ following a labialized consonant.
Observed diphthongs include /ae ai ao au oe ui/.
As in Tsaka and Lembena, final vowels are typically devoiced.
There are two word-level tones, high and low; however they are not distinguished in the orthography, and are only specified for 50 words (q.v. Draper and Draper 2002: 4-5.)
Draper and Draper (2002: 19-21) give Kyaka pronouns as follows. There is no distinction between second and third person dual and plural forms, respectively:
| 1 sg. | na-mba |
| 2 sg. | e-mba |
| 3 sg. | mba: |
| 1 pl. | na-mʷɨ |
| 2/3 pl. | naka-ma |
| 1 dl. | na-mbʷɨ |
| 2/3 dl. | naka-mba |
The plural forms are marked with a suffix /-ma/, in contrast to /-mba/ found on singulars and duals; rounding of the first person suffixes reflects erstwhile root-final /i/ as found in Tsaka.
No complete paradigms for ergative or possessive forms are given, but suffixes /-me/ ergative and /-na -ɲa/ possessive are sporadically listed in the dictionary (ibid.) Additionally, there is a first person singular possessive /na-ɲa/ which is archaic (p. 279) and reflects the original first person singular base form.
Draper and Draper (2002: 28-61) present desinences for final indicative forms of the root /kanda/ “see” as follows, with vowel /e/ replacing root-final /a/ in the present and far past tenses:
| present | future | immediate fut. | immediate past | past | far past | |
| 1 sg. | -eʎ-o | -ɾ-o | -ɾono | -ɺ-o-no | -p-u | -ej-o |
| 2 sg. | -eʎ-e-ne ≈ -i-ɲi | -ɾ-e-ne | -ɾone | -ɺ-e-ne | -p-i | -ej-i |
| 3 sg. | -eʎ-a-mo | -ɾ-a | -ɾona | -ɺ-a-mo | -pʲ-a | -ej-a |
| 1 pl. | -eʎa-ma-no | -ɾa-ma | -ɾa-ma-no | -ɺa-ma-no | -mʷɨ | -eja-ma |
| 2/3 pl. | -eʎa-mi-ɲi | -ɾa-mi | -ɾa-mi-ni ≈ -ɲi | -ɺa-mi-ɲi | -mi | -eja-mi |
| 1 dl. | -eʎa-mba-no | -ɾa-mba | -ɾa-mba-no | -ɺa-mba-no | -mbʷɨ | -eja-mbʷɨ |
| 2/3 dl. | -eʎa-mbi-ɲi | -ɾa-mbi | -ɾa-mbi-ni ≈ -ɲi | -ɺa-mbi-ɲi | -mbi | -eja-mba |
Draper and Draper give imperative/hortative forms for verbs with four different root-final vowels, /kanda/ “see”, /ɺa/ “burn”, /ɲi/ “take”, /juku/ “pull out” and /ɾoko/ “cut”, as follows, with suffix-initial /e/ replacing the final vowel of the root:
| kanda | ɺa | ɲi | juku | ɾoko | |
| 1 sg. | -ɺa-na | -ɺa-na | -eɺa-na | -ɺa-na | -ɺa-na |
| 2 sg. | -Ø(-pe ≈ -pi) | -[:]-Ø | -[:]-Ø | -Ø | -Ø |
| 3 sg. | -ena | -ena | -ena | -ena | -ena |
| 1 pl. | -ma(-na) | -ma(-na) | -ma(-na) | -ma(-na) | -ma(-na) |
| 2 pl. | -ɺapa(-pe ≈ -pi) | ||||
| 3 pl. | -ena | -ena | -ena | -ena | -ena |
| 1 dl. | -ma(-na) | -ma(-na) | -ma(-na) | -ma(-na) | -ma(-na) |
| 2 dl. | -ɺapa(-pe ≈ -pi) | ||||
| 3 dl. | -ena | -ena | -ena | -ena | -ena |
(Note: Second person plural and dual forms are only given for /kanda/.)
Vowel length on the second person singular imperatives of /ɺa/ and /ɲi/ is phononogical, not morphological, in origin, being conditioned by monosylllabicity; the “suffix” is underlyingly zero as with /kanda/, /juku/ and /ɾoko/.