Nalca language
| Nalca | |
|---|---|
| Mek Nalca, Hmanggona | |
| Native to | Highland Papua Indonesia |
Native speakers | 16,000 (2013)[1] |
Trans–New Guinea
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nlc |
| Glottolog | nalc1240 |
| ELP | Lua error in Module:Endangered_Languages_Project at line 21: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
Nalca (Naltya, Naltje) is a Papuan language spoken in Yahukimo Regency, Highland Papua, Indonesia. Alternative names are Hmanggona, Hmonono, Kimnyal (Kimyal). The latter is most often used for Korupun-Sela. Indonesian Kemendikbud classified Nalca as Mek Nalca, while Kimyal is used for Korupun-Sela.[2]
History
[edit | edit source]The Nalca language was an unwritten language until missionaries from the USA entered the area in the early 1960s. A literacy program was developed, and many people in the Nalca language group learned to read. Roger Doriot from the USA learned the language and completed the translation of the New Testament of the Bible in 2000.
Classification
[edit | edit source]Nalca belongs to the Western branch of the Mek languages, which is a family of closely related languages belonging to the larger grouping of Trans-New Guinea languages.[3]
Geographic distribution
[edit | edit source]The Nalca language is spoken by about 18,000 people in Yahukimo Regency, Highland Papua.[4]
Phonology
[edit | edit source]Consonants
[edit | edit source]Nalca has 15 phonemic consonants:[5]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Laryngeal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pʰ | b | tʰ | d | kʰ | ɡ | ʔ | |||
| Fricative | s | h | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||||
| Tap or flap | ɾ | |||||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||||
- /tʰ/ only occurs in loanwords and names.
Vowels
[edit | edit source]Nalca has five phonemic vowels:[5]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Grammar
[edit | edit source]Morphology
[edit | edit source]Nalca is a generally isolating language, but exhibits an elaborate system of agglutination in verb formation.
Syntax
[edit | edit source]The usual word order of Nalca is subject-object-verb (SOV).
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Nalca at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
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- ^ a b Rule, Rule & Cutting 1972.
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