Kainantu

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

Situation

The Kainantu family is comprised of perhaps fifteen languages spoken in the Kainantu, Obura-Wonenara and Okapa subdistricts of Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands province, with one language, Waffa, spoken just across the border in Morobe province to the east.

Subclassification

The internal classification of Kainantu is as follows:

Kainantu

Kenati

East Kainantu

Waffa

Afaqina-Tairora

Afaqina (Binumarien)

Tairora

North Tairora

Omwunra

Vinaata

West Kainantu

North Kainantu

Agarabi

Kambaira

Gadsup

Oyana

Ontena

Akuna-Tompena

Central and South Kainantu

Central Kainantu

Awiyaana

Usarufa

South Kainantu

Awa

Oweina

The placement of Oyana above is based upon 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.

Wurm (1961: 20-23, 1971: 551-557, McKaughan 1973: 698 after Wurm p.c.) calculates lexicostatistical relationships between eight Kainantu languages as follows; question marks indicate figures which are not given:

Binum. Tairora Agarabe Oyana Gadsup Usarufa Auyana Awa
Binum. 69 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Tairora 69 36 34 35 ? 33 ?
Agarabe ? 36 66 ? ? 49 ?
Oyana ? 34 66 69 ? 53 ?
Gadsup ? 35 ? 69 ? 46 ?
Usarufa ? ? ? ? ? 76 ?
Auyana ? 33 49 53 46 76 46
Awa ? ? ? ? ? ? 46

(Binum. = Binumarien, Gadsup i.e. Akuna)

McKaughan (1964: 99-101, 1973: 695-698) calculates lexicostatistical resemblances between twelve Kainantu villages as follows:

Tairora Gadsup Auyana Awa
Baira Batain. Abiqera Oyana Akuna Tompena Kawaina Kosena Asempa Tauna Ilakia Mobuta
TairoraBaira 87.9 87.7 55.1 55.5 54.1 54.5 55.1 55.5 55.7 53.6 54.6
Batain. 87.9 97.8 60.2 60.0 57.6 57.1 60.2 60.8 61.8 59.6 61.2
Abiqera 87.7 97.8 60.8 61.2 60.2 60.2 60.8 62.2 62.5 60.8 61.4
Gadsup Oyana 55.1 60.2 60.8 85.7 84.7 70.4 72.2 71.4 66.7 63.5 63.5
Akuna 55.5 60.0 61.2 85.7 97.9 65.6 66.3 67.7 66.0 63.9 63.3
Tomp. 54.1 57.6 60.2 84.7 97.9 64.6 65.3 69.4 64.6 63.5 61.8
Auyana Kawaina 54.5 57.1 60.2 70.4 65.6 64.6 93.9 91.9 76.3 73.2 72.4
Kosena 55.1 60.2 60.8 72.2 66.3 65.3 93.9 97.9 76.0 73.9 71.9
Asempa 55.5 60.8 62.2 71.4 67.7 69.4 91.9 97.9 78.3 75.2 74.2
Awa Tauna 55.7 61.8 62.5 66.7 66.0 64.6 76.3 76.0 78.3 82.6 86.3
Ilakia 53.6 59.6 60.8 63.5 63.9 63.5 73.2 73.9 75.2 92.6 88.4
Mobuta 54.6 61.2 61.4 63.5 63.3 61.8 72.4 71.9 74.2 86.3 88.4

(Batain. = Batainabura, Tomp. = Tompena)

Sources

[under construction]

History of classification

[under construction]

Eastern Highlands …

The special relationship with Goroka (Scott 1978: CITE,) Foley (1986: CITE), Haiman (CITE)

The position of Kenati … (Lloyd 1973: 93, Wurm 1975: 491, Gajdusek 1980: 142.)

Historical phonology

[under construction]

Proto-Kainantu had 7 or 8 consonants, 6 simple vowels and … diphthongs as follows:

*m *n
*p *t *s
*w [*ɾ] *j
*i *u
*e: *o:
*ɑ:



Final consonants are reduced in West Kainantu and droppped in East Kainantu. More frequently, thematic or postthematic final segments /*CV/ are retained as such in East Kainantu, but reduced in West Kainantu in the same manner as a final consonant. Consequently, all East Kainantu roots have final vowels. Final vowels occur in West Kainantu, but comprise a minority of roots.





…:

KainantuEast KainantuWest KainantuKenati Kenati
*… Dodd (PW)Gajdusek
*…
*…

Pronouns

[under construction]

Verbal morphology

[under construction]

Loans from Huon Gulf

[under construction]

Huon Gulf Kainantu
dog *kijam [Mk]
woman's bro.
taro
sugarcane

… specifically from Markham River …:

MarkhamAdzeraKainantu
axe