Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Usarufa is spoken by approximately 1,000 people (1973) living 30 miles southwest of Kainantu in the Kainantu subdistrict of Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands Province (McKaughan 1973: 179, Bee and Glasgow 1973: 190.) Usarufa is closely related to Awiyaana (Auyana,) but the two are not mutually intelligible (McKaughan and Marks 1973: 181.)
Many Usarufa are multilingual, with Fore, Kanite, Keyagana and Kamano of the Goroka family being the most widely known second languages (Bee 1964: 2, 1973: 205, 225.)
Bee and Glasgow (1962: 112-127) phonology of Mairapaqa village, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 190-203)
Bee (1964) phonology, masters thesis, reprinted in Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 4 (1965: 39-68) and McKaughan ed. (1973: 204-224)
Bee (1965) grammar of Orona village
Bee (1965: 1-37) 60 Usarufa reflexes of proto-Kainantu, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 739-768)
Bee (1973: 225-323) grammar, a revised version of Bee (1965)
Bee, compiler (1973: 390-400) texts
Kerr (1973: 769-799) Usarufa reflexes of proto-Kainantu kin terms
Chenoveth (1992) sketch phonology
Bee (1964, 1973: 204-224) gives 9 consonants and 5 (6) vowels for Usarufa as follows:
| m | n | |||
| p | t | k | ʔ | |
| w | ɾ | j |
| i | u | |
| e | ɐ | o |
| [ɑ:] |
(n.b. Bee gives /ɐ/ as /ə/)
This is a substantial simplification of the 18-consonant system presented in Bee and Glasgow (1962, 1973: 190-203) in which clusters (below) are treated as unit phonemes.
Stops /p t k/ are lightly aspirated initially. Intervocalic peripheral stops /p k/ are lenited to voiced fricatives [β ɣ] <b g>. /t/ is specified as alveodental [t̪], reflecting its origin in /*s/, and according to Bee can be realized as [s] in words which have cognates with /s/ in other Kainantu langages.
Alveolar flap /ɾ/ is realized as lateral [ɺ] following high front /i/ or when preceded by /ɐ ɑ:/ and followed by /i e ɐ ɑ:/.
Glides /w j/ are slightly fricated.
Glottal stop /ʔ/ is, like cluster-initial /N/ [m n ŋ], best viewed as an archiphoneme /C/ (Bee's <Q>) resulting from the merger of syllable-final stops. Accordingly, /ʔ/ does not occur initially, only /N ʔ/ occur syllable finally, and, since word-final /N/ has been dropped, only /ʔ/ occurs word-finally. The combinatory rules which determine the qualities of clusters, including those resulting from suffixaton, are are follows (Bee 1973: 218-219, 1973: 743.):
| class | final | V | m | n | p | t | k | ɾ | w | j |
| ø | ø | V | m | n | β | t | ɣ | ɾ | w | j |
| N | ø | nV | m: | n: | ʔp | ʔt | ʔk | ʔk | ʔk | ʔt |
| C | ʔ | ɾV/ʔV | ʔm/ʔ | ʔn | ʔp | ʔt | ʔk | ʔk | ʔk/ʔw | ʔj |
Long low central /ɑ:/ is interpreted as a sequence /ɐɐ/ <aa>.
Each syllable takes one of three tones, low, high or falling.
Bee (1973: 241-244) gives pronouns for Usarufa in five case forms as follows:
| base form | unmarked | non-focus | singular focus | exclusive | reflexive | |
| 1 sg. | kè- | kè-mɐ́ | — | — | kè-nɐ̀mɑ́:̀ | kè-nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-ɾìʔ |
| 2 sg. | è- | è-mɐ́ | — | — | è-nɐ̀mɑ́:̀ | è–nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-ɾìʔ |
| 3 sg. | wè- | wè-mɐ́ | — | — | wè-nɐ̀mɑ́:̀ | wè-nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-ɾìʔ |
| 1 pl. | kè- | — | kè-tɑ́:́ | — | kè–nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-tɑ̀:̀ | — |
| 2 pl. | kè- | — | kè-ɾɐ́wɐ́ʔ | — | kè–nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-tɑ̀:̀ è–nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-tɑ̀:̀ | — |
| 3 pl. | jè- | jè-mɐ́ | jè-ɾɐ́wɐ́ʔ | — | wè-nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-tɑ̀:̀ | — |
| 1 dl. | kè- | — | kè-ɾɐ́tɐ́ | kè-ɣɐ́ɾɐ́ʔ | kè–nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-ɾɐ̀tɐ̀ | — |
| 2 dl. | kè- | — | kè-nɐ̀kɐ̀ | è-ɣɐ́ɾɐ́ʔ | kè-nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-ɾɐ̀tɐ̀ è-nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-ɾɐ̀tɐ̀ | — |
| 3 dl. | jè- | — | jè-nɐ́kɐ́ | wè-ɣɐ́ɾɐ́ʔ | wè–nɐ̀mɑ́:̀-ɾɐ̀tɐ̀ | — |
[under construction]
Bee (1965, 1973: 269-278) …