Nomu
Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Situation
Nomu is spoken by approximately 810 people (1975) living in five villages in Papua New Guinea's Morobe province. Many Nomu speakers speak Ono as a second language (Hooley and McElhanon 1970: 1070-1071, McElhanon 1975: 534, 1984: 24, Suter 2018: 7, q.v. p. 4.)
Sources
[under construction]
McElhanon and Voorhoeve (1970) 67 Trans New Guinea comparisons include examples from Nomu
McElhanon (2012) 790 comparative terms for Nomu
McElhanon (n.d.) field notes for Nomu (unobtained)
Suter (2018) …
Phonology
[under construction]
…
Pronouns
Suter (2018: 298-299 after McElhanon n.d.) gives personal pronouns for Nomu in five case forms as follows (morpheme separations ours):
| basic | ergative | genitive | possessive | emphatic | |
| 1 sg. | no | no-ŋo | no-got | -n ~ -ne | no-n |
| 2 sg. | go | go-ŋo | go-got | -ge | go-i |
| 3 sg. | jok | jok-ŋo | jo-kot | -ŋe | jok-ŋe |
| 1 pl. | nen | nen-ŋo | nen-got | -ŋene | nen-ŋene |
| 2 pl. | je | je-ŋo | je-got | -(j)eŋe | je-iŋe |
| 3 pl. | (jok-)je | je-ŋo | je-got | -(j)eŋe | je-iŋe |
| 1 dl. | net | net-ŋo | net-kot | -ŋere | net-ŋere |
| 2 dl. | jet | jet-ŋo | jet-kot | -(j)etŋe | je-itŋe |
| 3 dl. | (jok-)jet | jet-ŋo | jet-kot | -(j)etŋe | je-itŋe |
The emphatics are usually formed by the suffixation of the possissive to the base.
Verbal morphology
Suter (2018: 322 after McElhanon n.d.) gives Nomu subject desinences for final verbs in six tenses/moods as follows. Second and third persons are dinstinguished from one another only in singulars (morpheme separations ours):
| past | future | present | habitual | imperative | irrealis | |
| 1 sg. | -an | -g-an | -wan | -ma-wan | -be | -bal-ak |
| 2 sg. | -on | -g-on | -dzan | -mal-an | -no | -bonon-ak |
| 3 sg. | -op | -g-op | -dzap | -mal-ap | -ok | -n-ak |
| 1 pl. | -en | -g-en | -wen-en | -ma-wen-en | -ne | -benen-ak |
| 2/3 pl. | -e | -g-e | -wen-e | -ma-wen-e | -ŋet | -be-ak |
| 1 dl. | -et | -g-et | -wer-et | -ma-wer-et | -de | -berer-ak |
| 2/3 dl. | -ot | -g-ot | -wor-ot | -ma-wor-ot | -ot | -boror-ak |
Different-subject medial verbs distinguish three aspects as follows;
| sequential | simultaneous | durative | |
| 1 sg. | -be | -be-so | -ma-be |
| 2 sg. | -no | -no-so | -ma-no |
| 3 sg. | -e | -eso | -mal-e |
| 1 pl. | -en-e | -ne-so | -mal-en-e |
| 2/3 pl. | -e | -ŋet-so | -mal-e |
| 1 dl. | -er-e | -re-so | -mal-er-e |
| 2/3 dl. | -or-o | -ot-so | -mal-or-o |