Table of Contents

Kánchá

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

Situation

Kánchá (Kunja) is spoken by approximately 350 people (2015) living in three villages, Bondobol, Bula and Jarai, located on either side of the lower Morehead river in the Morehead subdistrict of Papua New Guinea's Western province (Evans et al. forthcoming, q.v. Carroll 2014: 3, Döhler 2015: 3.) Bula is located at the mouth of the Morehead, with Bondobol inland to the north near Warta Thuntai territory and Jarai further east on the coast. Williams (1936) map of Lyons' (1913-1914: 193) three villages, Babiri, Asingabara and Tonda, shows Babiri in more or less the same location as Bondobol is found today, but Asingabara is shown further to the east and Tonda still further on the east bank of the Morehead river, significantly north of the coast. It is not clear if these northeastern villages, which are likewise absent from Grummitt and Masters (2012: 6,) still exist.

Sources

Anonymous (1895-1896: 106-120) 258 comparative terms for Bangu (Morehead)

Ray (1907: 292-293) brief sketch and (pp. 391-412) 71 comparative terms for Bangu after Anonymous (1895-1896)

Lyons (1913-1914: 193-194) 84 comparative terms for Tokwasa of Tonda, Asingabara and Babiri villages

Ray (1923: 343) numerals and (p. 347-350) 20 comparative terms for Bangu after Anonymous (1895-1896) and Tokwasa after Lyons (1913-1914)

Williams (1936: 30-31) 7 comparative terms for Asingabara after Anonymous (1895-1896)

O'Rear (1991) 120 comparative terms for Kʌnǰa of Bondobol village

Bouvé (2000) 166 comparative terms for Kʌntsja/Kɜ̆ntsja of Bondobol village

Döhler (2015) 235 comparative terms for Kánchá of Bondobol village

Evans, Arka, Carroll, Döhler, Kashima, Mittag, Quinn, Siegel, Tama and van Tongeren (forthcoming) miscellaneous notes and forms including free pronouns for Kánchá

Phonology

[under construction]

Pronouns

[under construction]

Verbal morphology

[under construction]