Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Akuna, or Akuna-Tompena, often referred to as Gadsup, of which it is the most populous and best documented variety, is spoken by 10,300 people (1976) living in and around the valley of the Arona river, just south and east of the the upper Ramu, in the Kainantu subdistrict of Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands province (Frantz 1976: 75.) An estimated lexicostatistical resemblance of 97.9% suggests the difference between Akuna and Tompena to be almost negligible (McKaughan 1964: 99-101, 1973: 695-698.)
Capell (1948-1949: 111-114, 350-354) pronouns and 105 comparative terms for Gadsup
Frantz and Frantz (1962) dictionary of Akuna Gadsup
Frantz (1962: 44-63) nominal morphology of Akuna, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 424-438)
Frantz and McKaughan (1964: 84-99) final verb morphology of Akuna, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 439-449)
McKaughan (1964: 98-121) includes 546 comparative terms for Okuna village, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 694-738)
Bee (1965: 1-37) 64 Gadsup words including reflexes of proto-Kainantu, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 739-768)
Frantz and Frantz (1966: 1-11) phonology of Akuna of Ommomunta village, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 406-413)
McKaughan, compiler (1973: 469-512) texts from Aiyura village
Frantz (1974) Gadsup nominal phrases, reformatted as Frantz (2007)
Frantz (1976) sentence structure of Akuna of Wopepa and Amomonta villages
Kerr (1973: 776-795) 29 Gadsup kin terms including reflexes of proto-Kainantu
Frantz (1995) sketch phonology of Akuna
[under construction]
Frantz and Frantz (1966, 1973: 406-413, Frantz 1995 ibid.) give 8 or 9 consonants and 6 vowels for Akuna as follows:
| m | n | |||
| p | t | k | [ʔ] | |
| β | ɾ | j |
| i | u | |
| e: | ɐ | o: |
| a: |
Low front vowel /a:/ <aa> is structurally and historically equivalent to /ɑ:/ in other West Kainantu languages.
… (Franz 1962, 1973: 425-427, ibid., 1974: ibid., 2007: ibid., q.v. Bee 1965: 741-744):
| mi | V | m | n | p | t | k | β | ɾ | j | |
| ø | ø-i | ø-V | ø-m | ø-n | ø-p | ø-t | ø-k | ø-β | ø-ɾ | ø-j |
| N | ø-mi | n-V | ø-m | ø-n | m-p | n-t | ŋ-k | m-b | n-d | n-j |
| ʔ | ʔ-i | k-V ≈ ʔ-V | ʔ-m | ʔ-n | ʔ-p | ʔ-t | ʔ-k | ʔ-β | ʔ-ɾ | ʔ-j |
| ɾ | n-ni | ɾ-V | [?m]-m | [?n]-n | n-t | n-t | n-t | n-d | n-d | n-d |
| j | ø-ni | j-ø | ø-n | ø-n | ø-t | ø-t | ø-t | j-ø | j-ø | j-ø |
…
Each syllable takes one of four tones, high, low, falling or rising.
[under construction]
Frantz and McKaughan (1964: 86-87, 1973: 440-441) give Akuna free pronouns in two case forms as follows:
| subject | object | |
| 1 sg. | te:-ni | te:-mi |
| 2 sg. | e:-ni | e:-mi |
| 3 sg. | βe:-ni | βe:-mi |
| 1 pl. | mɐjɐᵘ-ni | mɐjɐᵘ-ni (?) |
| 2 pl. | ike:-ni | ike:-mi |
| 3 pl. | je:-ni | je:-mi |
Inalienable possessors are prefixed to nominal roots, interacting with root-initial segments as follows (Frantz 1974: 10-13, 31, 2007: 13-16, 26):
| base | _-C | _-a: | _-u | |
| 1 sg./pl. poss. | ti- | ti-C | t-a: | t-u |
| 2/3 sg. poss. | ɐ- | ɐ-C | ø-a: | ø-o: |
| 2/3 pl. poss. | ji- | ji-C | j-a: | j-u |
… alienable possessors … (Frantz 1973: 430, 1974: 8-10, 2007: 12-13):
| subject | object | |
| 1 sg. poss. | te:-tiʔ | te:n-tiʔ |
| 2 sg. poss. | ||
| 3 sg. poss. | βe:j-iʔ | βe:n-iʔ |
| 1 pl. poss. | ||
| 2 pl. poss. | ||
| 3 pl. poss. |
[under construction]
Frantz and McKaughan (1964, 1973) …