Kembra language
| Kembra | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Western New Guinea |
| Region | Kiambra village, Kaisenar District, Keerom Regency |
| Ethnicity | 50[1] |
Native speakers | (20 cited 2000)[1] |
Pauwasi
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xkw |
| Glottolog | kemb1250 |
| ELP | Lua error in Module:Endangered_Languages_Project at line 21: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| File:Lang Status 20-CR.svg Kembra is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Kembra is a South Pauwasi language spoken in Western New Guinea by some twenty persons in Kiambra village, Kaisenar District, Keerom Regency. It is used by 20–60% of the ethnic population and is no longer passed down to children.
Classification
[edit | edit source]Initial documentation was carried out by Barnabas Konel and Roger Doriot. Kembra data remains unpublished in Konel's and Doriot's field notes.[2][3]
Foley (2018) notes that Kembra has some lexical forms resembling Lepki, but not Murkim, hinting at lexical borrowing between Kembra and Lepki, but not Murkim. He allows the possibility of Kembra being related to Lepki–Murkim, pending further evidence.[4] With more data, Usher (2020) was able to verify the connection.
Phonology
[edit | edit source]Kembra is a tonal language, as shown by the following minimal pair.[4]: 464
- yá 'pig'
- yà 'fire, tree'
Basic vocabulary
[edit | edit source]Basic vocabulary of Kembra listed in Foley (2018):[5]
Kembra basic vocabulary gloss Kembra 'bird' tra 'blood' nili 'bone' ka 'eat' ɲəm 'egg' traləl 'eye' yi 'fire' ya 'give' lokwes 'ground' to 'hair' iyet 'I' mu 'leg' kla 'louse' nim 'man' ratera 'name' kia 'one' kutina 'see' iyam 'stone' isi 'sun' ota 'tooth' pa 'tree' ya 'two' kais 'water' er 'we' utuas 'you (sg)' amagrei 'you (pl)' robkei
Sentences
[edit | edit source]Kembra has SOV word order, and also appears to have bipartite negation as in Abun and French. Only several sentences have been elicited by Konel (n.d.), which are quoted below from Foley (2018).[4]
pei
dog
yá
pig
por
black
ɲəm
eat
'The dog ate the black pig.'
mu
1SG
pei
dog
te-iya-mo
?-see-TNS
'I see the dog.'
mu
1SG
ipei
betelnut
abi-ɲi
NEG-eat
koto
NEG
'I didn't eat betelnut.'
mu
1SG
pei
dog
abi-(i)ya
NEG-see
koto
NEG
'I didn't see the dog.'
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Kembra at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
- ^ Konel, Barnabas. n.d. Wordlist of Kembra. Photocopy of handwritten ms.
- ^ Doriot, Roger E. 1991. 6-2-3-4 Trek, April-May, 1991. Ms.
- ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
