Torricelli language of Papua New Guinea
Buna is a Torricelli language of Marienberg Rural LLG , East Sepik Province , Papua New Guinea .
There are two divergent dialects. One dialect is spoken in Kasmin (4°01′08″S 144°03′37″E / 4.018975°S 144.060235°E / -4.018975; 144.060235 (Kasmin 1 ) ), Boig (3°50′55″S 144°03′18″E / 3.84861°S 144.054923°E / -3.84861; 144.054923 (Boik ) ), Waskurin (3°52′12″S 144°04′05″E / 3.870089°S 144.068112°E / -3.870089; 144.068112 (Waskurin ) ), and Arapang (3°52′49″S 144°04′24″E / 3.88039°S 144.073217°E / -3.88039; 144.073217 (Ariapan ) ) villages, and another in Masan, Mangan (3°57′13″S 144°14′22″E / 3.953676°S 144.239463°E / -3.953676; 144.239463 (Mangan ) ), and Garien villages.[ 1] [ 2]
Morphology
Buna has four noun classes . Noun class concord affixes in Buna are shown in the following examples.[ 3]
Class 1
singular (masculine)
plural (masculine)
do -ko-n
CL1 .SG .SBJ -go-CL1 .SG
uri gaba-re do -ko-n
person.CL1.SG big-CL1.SG CL1.SG.SBJ-go-CL1.SG
‘The big man went.’
bo -ko-m
CL1 .PL .SBJ -go-CL1 .PL
oret gaba-bwe bo -ko-m
person.CL1.PL big-CL1.PL CL1.PL.SBJ-go-CL1.PL
‘The big men went.’
Class 2
singular (feminine)
plural (feminine)
go -ko-ŋ
CL2 .SG .SBJ -go-CL2 .SG
uri gaba-gwe go -ko-ŋ
person.CL2.SG big-CL2.SG CL2.SG.SBJ-go-CL2.SG
‘The big woman went.’
oret gaba-ʔe e -ko
person.CL2.PL big-CL2.PL CL2.PL.SBJ-go
‘The big women went.’
Class 3
singular (class III)
plural (class III)
na -ti-n
CL3 .SG .SBJ -fall-CL3 .SG
wan gaba-re na -ti-n
banana.CL3.SG big-CL3.SG CL3.SG.SBJ-fall-CL3.SG
‘A big banana fell down.’
u -ti-u
CL3 .PL .SBJ -fall-CL3 .PL
wan gaba-we u -ti-u
banana.CL3.PL big-CL3.PL CL3.PL.SBJ-fall-CL3.PL
‘Big bananas fell down.’
Class 4
singular (class IV)
plural (class IV)
li -ti-l
CL4 .SG .SBJ -fall-CL4 .SG
kwala gaba-le li -ti-l
netbag.CL4.SG big-CL4.SG CL4.SG.SBJ-fall-CL4.SG
‘A big netbag fell down.’
bə -t-əm
CL4 .PL .SBJ -fall-CL4 .PL
kwala gaba-be bə -t-əm
netbag.CL4.PL big-CL4.PL CL4.PL.SBJ-fall-CL4.PL
‘Some big netbags fell down.’
References
External links
Paradisec houses a collection of Arthur Capell 's materials that include Boiken (AC2 ) as well as recordings by Bill Foley (WF3 ) and notebooks from Don Laycock 's work (DL2 ). All of these collections are open access.
Official languages Major Indigenous languages Other Papuan languages
Sign languages