Woisika, also known as Kamang, is a Papuan language of Alor Island of Indonesia. The three main dialects are Western Kamang, Lowland Kamang, and Upland Kamang. Dialects also include Lembur, Sibo, Kamang, Tiayai, Watang, Kamana-Kamang. They may constitute more than one language. Kamang is an endangered language, since children usually only have passive competence of the language, and instead are shifting to Malay.[2]
Speakers may prefer the term Kamang to refer to the speech community as a whole; Woisika is a village name.[3]
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | (ʔ) ⟨'⟩ | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
| Fricative | ɸ ⟨f⟩ | s | (h) | |||
| Semivowel | w | j ⟨y⟩ | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
/h/ and /ʔ/ are marginal. /r/ is rare in initial and final position. Word-final /s/ is only in loan words.
The consonant /ŋ/ is not found word-initially, and /f/ is not found word-finally.[4]
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | iː ⟨ii⟩ | u | uː ⟨uu⟩ | ||
| Mid | e | eː ⟨ee⟩ | o | oː ⟨oo⟩ | ||
| Open | a | aː ⟨aa⟩ | ||||
Grammar
Serial verb constructions
Kamang has serial verb constructions.
Afunaa
a-funaa
3.PAT-face
yakii
ga-kii
3.PAT-turn
me
me
come
noowaai.
noo-waai.
3.AST-face
'Turn and face me.'[2]: 348 Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
Valence
Examples with avalent, monovalent, bivalent, and trivalent verbs are shown below.[2]
Avalent
Itunma
itun-ma
late.afternoon-PFV
'It's late afternoon.'[2]: 300
Monovalent
Bivalent
Trivalent
Markus
Markus
Markus
patei
patei
corn
me
me
TAKE
dumma
dum=a
child=SPEC
wotulen.
go-tulen
3.LOC-divide
'Markus divides corn amongst the children.'[2]: 301 Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
Riddles
Woisika riddles relate to animals, the human body, human artifacts, natural phenomena, crops and other foods, among others.[5]
References
- ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Schapper, Antoinette (2014). "Kamang". In Schapper, Antoinette (ed.). The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 1: Sketch Grammars. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 287–349.
- ^ Grimes, Charles (1997). A guide to the people and languages of Nusa Tenggara (PDF). Kupang: Artha Wacana Press.
- ^ Stokhof, W.A.L. (1979). Woisika II Phonemics (PDF). Australian National University.
- ^ Stokhof, W.A.L. (1982). Woisika Riddles (PDF). Australian National University.
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This page was last edited on 25 March 2024, at 18:22