Odoodee

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

Odoodee is spoken by approximately 500 people (2007) living in three villages, Kalamo, Hasalibi and Tulusi (Lake Campbell,) located east of the Strickland River and south of the Tomu River in the foothills of Mt Bosavi at the edge of the Strickland plain, in the Balimo and Nomad districts of Papua New Guinea's Western province, immediately west of the border with Southern Highlands province. The speech varieties of Kalamo and Hasalibi contistute a single dialect, with that of Tulusi, which Shaw calls Hesif, differentiated primarily by lexicon (Shaw 1986: 61, Hays and Hays: 2003: 2-6, 2007: 4.)

Shaw (1986: 62-64) 100 comparative terms for Kalamo and Hesif

Hays and Hays (2002) grammar of Odoodee of Kalamo village

Hays and Hays (2003) sketch phonology of Odoodee

Hays and Hays (2003) dialect survey of Odoodee

Hays and Hays (2007) phonology of Odoodee of Kalamo

Hays and Hays (2002: 7-11, 2007: 4, ibid.) give 13 consonants and 7 vowels for Odoodee as follows:

Vowels are further distinguished by the presence or absence of nasalization:

Neither final consonants nor consonant clusters occur.

Word-level tone is contrastive, and is distinguished by either a high level or a falling tone on the last syllable. Falling tone is unmarked in the practical orthography:

Hays and Hays (2002: 34-37) give pronouns for Odoodee in six case forms as follows:

Hays and Hays (2002: 41) describe a body part counting system for Odoodee similar in concept to other New Guinean systems, in which, most typically, counting begins from the left pinkie at one and proceeds up the left side of the body, then proceeds downward on the right side to form higher numbers. The system is used only infrequently by older speakers; it is unclear if counting then continues on the other side of the body:

[under construction]

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