Rao
Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Situation
[under contruction]
… (Stanhope 1980: 1-4.)
Sources
[under contruction]
Capell (1951-1952) …
Z'graggen (1969, 1971) …
Z'graggen (1972) …
Kasprus (1973) …
Davies and Comrie (1985: 283-411) 46 comparative terms for Rao of Gokto village elicited by Lyle Scholtz
Stanhope (1980) …
Phonology
Stanhope (1980: 4-8) gives 25 consonants and 7 vowels for Rao as follows:
| m | n | ŋ | |
| p | t | tʃ | k |
| b | d | dʒ | g |
| mb | nd | ŋg | |
| ʔb | ʔd | ʔ | |
| f | s | ||
| v | z | ||
| β | r | j | ɣ |
| ɪ | ɯ | ʊ |
| ɛ | ə | ɔ |
| a |
[under contruction]
Velar non-stop /ɣ/ is rare and is probably to be considered an allophone of /g/, which likewise reflects Ramu River /*ɣ/.
…
Pronouns
Stanhope (1980: 9) gives Rao pronouns in three case forms as follows
| nominative | accusative | possessive | |
| 1 sg. | gʊ | ga | ŋa |
| 2 sg. | nə | nda | na |
| 3 sg. | mə | ma, mba | ma |
| 1 pl. | nʲɪ | nʲa | nʲa-nə |
| 2 pl. | nʲɔ | nʲɔ | nʲɔ-nə |
| 3 pl. | mɛ | mɛ-nə | mɛ-nə |
| 1 dl. | nʲɪ-makə | — | — |
| 2 dl. | nə-makə | — | — |
| 3 dl. | makə | — | — |
In addition to the first person dual above, Stanhope gives an alternate form /ŋgʷakə/; however this is probably a loan from Banaro.
Verbal morphology
[under contruction]
…
Counting system
[under contruction]
…