Naki

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

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Naki, or Nagi, is spoken by … in the Merauke Regency of Indonesia's Papua province (Wilbrink 2004: CITE.) The term Naki [naki] /'naɣi/ means “what?” (q.v. Wilbrink 2004: 109f, Williamson 2010: 19-20.)

Jang (2003: 39-47) 239 comparative terms for Nagi of Kawor 2 village

Wilbrink (2004: 109a-110f) 239+ comparative terms for Sait (Nagi)

Williamson (2010) grammar of Nagi

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No phonology of Naki is provided in Wilbrink (2004) or Williamson (2010.) … at least 11 or 12 consonants and 5 vowels as follows:

…
All examples in the sections which follow are given in Williamson's orthography without further interpretation.

Williamson (2010: 12-14) gives Nagi pronouns in two case forms as follows:

When the emphatic/possessed forms are used to signify possession, they replace the possessed noun and mean “mine”, “yours”, etc. The suffix /-ki/ is the general deictic enclitic (pp. 27-29.)

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Williamson (2010: 30-61) gives Nagi independent verbs in six tense forms as follows:

Gender is not distinguished in the second person singular, nor does the first person plural distinguish between inclusive and exclusive. Third person plural is not distinguished from second person plural.

It may be seen that the first person singular and third person singular masculine subject forms in the immediate future differ from those in the other tenses. Otherwise, the subject markers appear to be encliticized versions of the free pronouns (above.)

Dependent medial verbs …:

Naki has a body-part counting system of the type characteristic of the Digul River-Ok region, and arguably of New Guinea in general, in which the term for the number is the same as that for the body part which is touched during tallying. Counting begins from the left pinkie at one, proceeding to the thumb and then up the left side of the body until reaching the nose, then proceeding downward on the right side of the body as follows (Williamson 2010: 16-17):