Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Agarabi is spoken by over 20,000 people (2002) living in northernmost portion of the Kainantu subdistrict of Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands province (Olson and Olson: 2002, 1.)
Chinnery (1934: 118) 81 terms from Ramu River natives
Capell (1948-1949: 111-114, 350-354) pronouns and 103 comparative terms for Agárabi
Goddard and Luff (1962) Agarabi final verbs (unobtained)
Goddard and Luff (1962) phonology of Agarabi (unobtained)
Bee (1965: 1-37) 45 Agarabi words including reflexes of proto-Kainantu, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 739-768)
Goddard (1967: 1-25) narratives from Agarabi of Punano village, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 450-468)
Bee, Luff and Goddard (1973: 414-423) phonology of Agarabi, based upon Goddard and Luff (1962)
Kerr (1973: 776-795) 28 Agarabi kin terms including reflexes of proto-Kainantu
Goddard (1974: 75-118) grammar of Agarabi of Punano, reprinted as thesis (1977) and as Goddard (1980: 35-76)
Goddard (1976: 5-72) grammar of Agarabi of Punano
Goddard and Luff (1988) small vocabulary of Agarabi
Harlow (1992) sketch phonology of Agarabi (unobtained)
Olson (1991) sketch phonology of Agarabi (unobtained)
Olson and Olson (2002) sketch phonology of Bare (Agarabi)
[under construction]
Bee, Luff and Goddard (1973: 414-423) give 8 or 9 consonants and 5 or 6 vowels for Agarabi as follows:
| m | n | |||
| p | t | k | [ʔ] | |
| w | ɾ | j |
| i | u | |
| e: | ɐ | o: |
| [ɑ:] |
(n.b. Bee, Luff and Goddard give /ɐ/ as <ə>)
Bee, Luff and Goddard interpret long low central [ɑ:] as a sequence /ɐɐ/ <aa>, but historically it is an independent vowel.
Glottal stop /ʔ/ is only found syllable finally, and like syllable-final nasal is considered a prosodic feature (below).
Final vowels are further distinguished by the presence or absence of nasalization. These segments are best viewed as the product of a final archiphoneme /N/:
| -ø | -N |
| i | ĩ |
| u | ũ |
| ɐ | ɐ̃ |
| e: | ẽ: |
| o: | õ: |
| ɑ: | ɑ̃: |
….
| V | m | n | p | t | s | w | ɾ | j | ||
| ø | ||||||||||
| N | Ṽ | |||||||||
| ʔ |
Allophonic realizations of non-final consonants vary by position as follows:
| C- | -C- | -NC- | -ʔC- | |
| m | m | m | — | ? |
| n | n | n | — | ʔn |
| p | pʰ ɸ | ɸ | mpʰ | ʔpʰ |
| t | tʰ ts s | s | ntʰ | ʔtʰ |
| k | kʰ | [x k] | ŋkʰ | ʔkʰ |
| w | b bʷ w | β βʷ w | — | ʔb ʔbʷ ʔw |
| ɾ | — | ɾ r | — | ? |
| j | d dʲ j | j | — | ʔd ʔdʲ ʔj |
It may be seen that the general tendency is for stops to be fricated and non-stops to be occluded, while nasals are left unchanged. Though Bee, Leff and Goddard give a medial allophones [x k] for /k/, this is scarcely attested and cannot reflect any proto-North Kainantu segment. Kainantu did not have a velar stop /*k/, the current Agarabi system resulting from a reanalysis of Kainantu /*t *s/ as /k t/, with allophones in parallel with those of original /*p/, but Kainantu medial /*t/ has merged with /*ɾ/:
| *C- | *-C- | *-NC- | *-ʔC- | |
| *p | p | p | Np | ʔp |
| *t | k | ɾ | Nk | ʔk |
| *s | t | t | Nt | ʔt |
Each syllable takes one of two tones, high or low.
Goddard (1974: 110-111, 111-112, 117, cf. Capell 1948-1949: 111-114) gives Agarabi free pronouns, verbal objects and benefactives as follows. There is no distinction between singular and plural forms:
| subject | object | verbal object | benefactive | |
| 1 sg./pl. | te:ʔi | tẽ: | ti- | -ti-ntɐ- |
| 2 sg./pl. | e:ʔi | ẽ: | ɐ- | -ɐ-ntɐ- |
| 3 sg./pl. | βe:ʔi | βẽ: | ɐ- | -ɐ-ntɐ- |
[under construction]
Goddard (1974: 114-115) gives Agarabi suffixed verbal subjects as follows, the number infixes being specified as optional. No third person number infixes have been found:
| 1 sg. | -ʔu/-u |
| 2 sg.. | -o: |
| 3 sg. | -iʔ/-miʔ |
| 1 pl. | -(ipe:)-ʔu |
| 2 pl.. | -(ɾ)-o: |
| 3 pl. | [-iʔ/-miʔ] |
| 1 dl. | -(ntɐ)-u |
| 2 dl.. | -(nt)-o: |
| 3 dl. | [-iʔ/-miʔ] |