North Kainantu

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

The North Kainantu family is comprised of perhaps five closely related languages spoken in the Kainantu subdistrict of Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands province.

The internal classification of North Kainantu is as follows:

North Kainantu

Agarabi

Kambaira

Gadsup

Oyana

Ontena

Akuna-Tompena

The differences between Gadsup of Ontena and that of Akuna may or may not be significant enough to warrant considering Ontena a separate language. The placement of Oyana above is based upon Wurm (1961: 20-23, 1971: 551-557,) McKaughan (1964: 99-101, 1973: xvi, 403, 695-698, 699) and Frantz (1976: 75,) as no Oyana data is available to us at this time. According to Frantz, Oyana is the most divergent of Gadsup's three major dialects. McKaughan calculates an 84.7-85.7% lexicostatistical relationship between Oyana and Akuna-Tompena.

Chinnery (1934: 118) 81 terms from Ramu River natives (Agarabi)

Capell (1948-1949: 111-114) pronouns and (pp, 350-354) 122 comparative terms for Agárabi and Gadsup

Frantz and Frantz (1962) dictionary of Akuna

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) 546 comparative terms for Gadsup of Okuna village, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 694-738)

Bee (1965: 1-37) 64 Gadsup words and 45 Agarabi 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) Gadsup 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 and 28 Agarabi kin terms including reflexes of proto-Kainantu

Frantz (1994) sketch phonology of Gadsup of Ontena village, recapitulated in an undated and unattributed manuscript from Summer Institute of Linguistics, Ukarumpa

Frantz (1995) sketch phonology of Akuna

Goddard and Luff (1962) Agarabi final verbs (unobtained)

Goddard and Luff (1962) phonology of Agarabi (unobtained)

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)

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)

Vincent (n.d.) 97 terms for Kambaira

Proto-North Kainantu had 8 consonants and 6 vowels as follows:

In addition to the simple vowels above, at least ttree and perhaps four diphthongs occur:

There are four reasons that apical stop /*t/ is reconstructed rather than velar /*k/ in accord with its most common reflex (below): 1) it continues Kainantu and West Kainantu /*t/, not /*k/ which didn't exist in West Kainantu, 2) it is lenited intervocalically to [ɾ] in Agarabi, although Agarabi's initial reflex is [k], 3) Kambaira's glottalization of /*t/ to /ʔ/ is shared with Afaqina (Binumarien) to the northeast, 4) Gadsup's development to /k/ is shared with the Central Kainantu languages to the southwest. It is easier to explain these as areally-propagated changes which occured some time after the breakup of proto-North Kainantu.

This in turn motivates the reconstruction of laminal /*s/, which continues Kainantu and West Kainantu /*s/, rather than /*t/, although either might be defensible with reference to North Kainantu alone.

Apical non-stop /*ɾ/ does not occur initially. Otherwise, any consonant can occur initially or medially.

Only a restricted set of consonants occurs finally. Finals /*N/ and /*ʔ/ are archiphonemes resulting from the conflation of nasals and stops respectively in final position:

Free nominals are almost always though not invariably appended with an article /*-mi/, which reflects Kainantu demonstrative /*mi/ “that.” The quality of the root-final consonant is most usually discerned indirectly through its effects upon the realization of the article (below) and other suffixes.

Medial clusters are attested as follows, where the previous syllable terminates in one of two archiphonemes /*N *ʔ/:

[under construction]

Word-initial consonants correspond as follows:

Intervocalic consonants, whether root-medial or root-initial following a prefix, correspond as follows:

Medial consonant clusters with syllable-final nasal /*N/ correspond as follows:

Medial consonant clusters with syllable-final stop /*ʔ/ correspond as follows:

Correspondences between final consonants are illustrated here by their effects upon the realization of the postposed nominal article /*-mi/:

Vowels and diphthongs correspond as follows:

These correspondences are exemplified as follows, with Agarabi attestations drawn from Goddard and Luff (Bee, Luff and Goddard 1973: 414-423, Goddard 1973: 450-468, Bee 1973: 745-759, Goddard 1974 ibid., 1976 ibid., Goddard and Luff 1988 ibid.) or from Olson and Olson (2002) unless otherwise indicated; those drawn from Capell (1948-1949: 350-354) and Chinnery (1934: 118) are indicated with the bracketed comments [ac] and [ec] respectively. Akuna attestations are from Frantz and Frantz (1962, 1973: 406-413, Frantz, 1973: 424-438, Frantz 1974 ibid., 2007 ibid.) and from McKaughan (1973: 721-738,) Ontena from Frantz (1994, n.d. after Frantz) and Kaimbaira from Vincent (n.d.) Agarabi and Akuna kin terms drawn from Kerr (1973: 776-795) are indicated with the bracketed comment [hk].

Olson and Olson's (2002) Bare (Agarabi) orthography has been standardized in accordance with the phonology set forth by Bee, Luff and Goddard (1973: 414-423,) such that simple and preglottalized medial stops are shown as /p t k ʔp ʔt ʔk/ as rather than as <f s x p t k>, while glottal stop is shown as /ʔ/ rather than as Olson and Olson's acute accent or as Goddard and Luff's <h>. Neither Frantz's (1994) Ontena orthography nor Vincent's Kambaira vocabulary distinguish mid central vowel /ɐ/ from long low vowel /a:/ (< /*ɑ:/,) both being written as <a>, although Frantz specifies that the phonemic difference exists in Ontena and gives some examples of each. Because Frantz and Frantz don't consistently indicate Akuna tone, while McKaughan doesn't indicate tone at all, tone is not included here.

As data for both Kambaira and Ontena is quite limited, gaps in attestation are not necessarily meaningful and aren't reliable guides for cognate frequencies.

Word-initial bilabial nasal /*m/ is generally retained as such in all descendants:

In several examples, the Agarabi reflex of initial /*m/ is attested as [β]:

In one example, the reflexes of initial /*m/ and intervocalic /*w/ (below) appear to have confused one another, perhaps under the influence of North Tairora /βahaβeɾɐ/, in which /β/ is the regular reflex of /*m/:

Word-initial apical nasal /*n/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Word-initial bilabial stop /*p/ is typically aspirated or fricated to [pʰ pɸ ɸ] in all descendants:

Word-initial apical stop /*t/ is backed to velar /k/ in Agarabi and in Akuna and Ontena, a change shared with the Central Kainantu languages to the southwest. The resulting velar /k/ is typically realized as aspirated or fricated [kʰ kx x] in these languages. In Kambaira, /*t/ is glottalized in both initial and medial postition (below) to /ʔ/, a change shared with Afaqina to the northeast:

Word-initial laminal /*s/ has been reinterpreted as apical stop /t/ in at least Agarabi and Akuna, but still counts [ts s] alongside aspirated [tʰ] among its allophones:

Word-initial bilabial non-stop /*w/ is typically occluded to [b bʷ β] in all descendants:

Apical non-stop /*ɾ/ does not occur initially.

Word-initial palatal non-stop /*j/ is retained as such in Agarabi, Akuna and Ontena. In Agarabi, it is often occluded to [d dʲ] (Bee, Luff and Goddard 1973: 420.) One would assume that its reflex in Kambaira would be velar stop /k/, as is that of medial /*j/ (below,) but Vincent gives no comparable examples of /*j/ in this position:

Intervocalic bilabial nasal /*m/ is generally retained as such in all descendants. Unlike other Kainantu languages, there is no contrast here between simple medial /*m/ and cluster /*Nm/:

In one example …:

Intervocalic bilabial nasal /*n/ is retained as such in all descendants. Unlike other Kainantu languages, there is no contrast here between simple medial /*n/ and cluster /*Nn/:

One example …:

Intervocalic bilabial stop /*p/ is realized as fricative [ɸ] in all descendants:

Intervocalic apical stop /*t/ is backed to velar /k/ in Akuna and Ontena, where /k/ is realized as fricative [x]. but merged with /ɾ/ in Agarabi, in contrast to initial /*t/ which is backed to /k/ in all three (above.) Kambaira glottalizes /*t/ to / ʔ/ in both positions:

Intervocalic laminal /*s/ is retained as [s] in all descendants, even though it has been reinterpreted as an allophone of /t/:

Intervocalic bilabial non-stop /*w/ is typically occluded to [β βʷ] in all descendants:

In one example …:

In one example known to correspond to Central and South Kainantu /*ɐᵘwɐjɐN/ …:

Intervocalic apical non-stop /*ɾ/ is generally retained as such in all descendants:

In one example, …:

Intervocalic palatal non-stop /*j/ is occluded to velar stop /k/ in Kambaira, a change shared with North Tairora to the south:

… medial consonant clusters with syllable-final nasal /*N/ …:

Kainantu clusters /*Nm *Nn/ are no longer contrastive in any North Kainantu language, having been merged with the reflexes of simple medial nasals /*m *n/ (above.)

… /*Np/ …:

… /*Nt/ …:

… /*Ns/ …:

In one example …:

One loan from Markham River is attested with an irregular reflex in Akuna:

… /*Nw/ …:

… /*Nɾ/ …:

… /*Nj/ …:

… medial consonant clusters with syllable-final stop /*ʔ/ …:

No examples of preglottalized bilabial nasal /*ʔm/ have been found. Where final /ʔ/ is followed by the nominal article /*mi/, /*m/ is dropped in all descendants (below,) but it's not known if this would occur within roots.

Preglottalized apical nasal /*ʔn/ …:

Preglottalized bilabial stop /*ʔp/ …:

Preglottalized apical stop /*ʔt/ …:

Preglottalized laminal /*ʔs/ …:

Preglottalized bilabial non-stop /*ʔw/ …:

Preglottalized apical non-stop /ʔɾ/ …:

Preglottalized palatal non-stop /*ʔj/ …:

Correspondences between final consonants are illustrated here by their effects upon the realization of the postposed nominal article /*-mi/, reflecting Kainantu demonstrative /*mi/ “that.” This article does not always appear, either because the nominal root is the first member of a compound, has been suffixed with something else (e.g. some Agarabi kin terms) or it is simply absent in the attested form for unknown syntactical reasons.

Following roots with a final vowel, article /*mi/ is reduced to /i/ in Akuna and dropped altogether in Agarabi:

When the final vowel of the root is high front /*i/, the reflex of /*mi/ is dropped in Akuna as well as in Agarabi:

One example …:

Some vowel-final roots aren't attested with articles because they're not nominals:

Final nasal archiphoneme /*N/ is discernible in Agarabi by the nasalization of the preceding vowel and in Kambaira, Akuna and Ontena by the retention of the article /*mi/ as such:

Final stop archiphoneme /*ʔ/ is retained as such in all descendants, with article /*mi/ reduced to /i/ in Kambaira, Akuna and Ontena and dropped in Agarabi:

Final apical non-stop /*ɾ/ … Gadsup's underlying nominal finals are specified for a handful of terms in Franz (1962, 1973: 425-427.) The presumably geminated segment <nn> is distinguished only from /n/ in Frantz (1974, 2007,) in which its phonological value is not specified:

These reflexes, as well as Akuna's general cross-morpheme cluster rules, make it clear that final /*ɾ/ had a nasal component, perhaps similar to Tairora's and Waffa's nasal flap /n̆/. There are … reasons this is reconstructed here as /*ɾ/, rather than as final apical nasal /*n/: ….

Final palatal non-stop /*j/ …:

…:

The simple vowels are generally retained as such in all descendants:

High front vowel /*i/ is retained as such in all descendants:

High back vowel /*u/ is generally retained as such in all descendants:

Akuna coalesces root-initial /*u/ with preceding third person singular inalienable possessor /*ɐ-/ to merge with the reflex /o:/ of diphthong /*aᵘ/ (below) (q.v. Frantz: 1974: 31, 2007: 26):

Mid central vowel /*ɐ/ is generally retained as such in all descendants. It is not orthographically distinguished from the reflexes of long low /*ɑ:/ in either Frantz' Ontena or Vincent's Kambaira vocabulary:

In one example where initial /*ɐ/ is followed by palatal non-stop /*j/, it is fronted and raised to /i/ in Akuna:

Akuna coalesces root-initial /*ɐ/ with preceding third person singular inalienable possessor /*ɐ-/ to merge with the fronted reflex of long low central vowel /*ɑ:/ (below.) In Agarabi, the possessor is dropped without apparent effect:

Long mid front vowel /*e:/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Long mid back vowel /*o:/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Long low central vowel /*ɑ:/ is fronted to [a:] in at least Akuna and Ontena. It is not orthographically distinguished from mid central /ɐ/ in either Franz' Ontena or Vincent's Kambaira:

When root-initial /*ɑ:/ is preceded by third person singular inalienable possessor /*ɐ-/, the possessor is dropped in Agarabi and in Akuna without apparent effect:

Diphthong /*ɐⁱ/ is merged with mid central vowel /ɐ/ in Agarabi and Akuna:

Diphthong /*ɐᵘ/ is merged with long mid back vowel /o:/ in Agarabi and in Akuna:

In several words with vowels known to continue West Kainantu /*o:ⁱ/, the vowels are reflected as /e:/ in both Agarabi and Akuna. It's not clear if this change affected North Kainantu as a whole:

… /*ɑ:ⁱ/ …:

Akuna /βa:ntɐ/ “man” becomes /βɐⁱntɐ/ when appearing as the second member of a compound alongside a number of roots in which long /a:/ becomes /ɐ/ in the same environment (Franz 1974: 3-5, 2007: 7-10.)

… contrastive tone …:

North Kainantu nominative pronouns are reconstructed as follows, with Agarabi forms drawn from Goddard (1974: 117) and Akuna from Franz and McKaughan (1964: 86-97, 1973: 440-441):

Here and in the object and possessive forms below the distinction between singular and plural pronouns has entirely collapsed in Agarabi, the bases of the second and third person plurals reflecting those of the singulars.

The first person singular is historically identical to the first person plural. The extension of the first person plural to include the singular is an areal grammatical trend which has also affected Afaqina, Tairora and Central Kainantu, but not Waffa, South Kainantu or Kenati on the geographical margins of the Kainantu region.

North Kainantu free object pronouns are reconstructed as follows:

North Kainantu inalienable possessors and verbal objects are reconstructed as follows, with Agarabi forms drawn from Goddard (1974: 110-111, cf. Capell 1948-1949: 111-114) and Akuna from Frantz and McKaughan (1964: 86-87, 1973: 440-441, Frantz 1973: 429):

Historically, the second and third person plural possessors/objects were distinct from one another, from West Kainantu /*i-/ and /*ji-/ respectively.

Alienable possessors are derived by the suffixation of /*-iʔ/ …:

[under construction]

…

Akuna and especially Kambaira have borrowed a number of basic terms from East Kainantu languages. Here North Tairora of Vaantura and Afaqina (Binumarien) are presented for comparison, with Vaantura attestations drawn from Vincent (2010 ibid.) and Afaqina from Oatridge and Oatridge (1973: 517-522, Bee 1973: 745-759, Kerr 776-795, unattributed n.d.) and Capell (1948-1948: 350-354;) these are contrasted with their native North Kainantu semantic equivalents, several of which are ultimately cognate with the East Kainantu forms:

Agarabi and Ontena have borrowed some basic terms from Kamano of the Goroka family to the west, with Kamano-Kafe' attestations drawn from Payne (2007):