| Korafe | |
|---|---|
| Korafe-Yegha | |
| Gaina | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Oro Province |
Native speakers | (1,400 Gaina and Bareji cited 1971)[1] 3,600 Korafe and Yegha (2003) |
Trans–New Guinea
| |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:kpr – Korafe-Yeghagcn – Gaina-Bareji |
| Glottolog | gaen1235 |
Korafe is a Papuan language spoken in Oro Province, in the "tail" of Papua New Guinea. It is part of the Binanderean family of the Trans–New Guinea phylum of languages. Korafe or could also be called Kailikaili, Kaire, Korafe, Korafi, Korape, and Kwarafe is a language spoken in the Oro Province more specifically in the Tufi District, and Cape Nelson Headlands.
Korafe has been heavily influenced by Oceanic languages.[4]
Speakers
For the people that lived of the Korafe language lived with three main principles:
- Self-sustaining economy
- Responsibilities and such go beyond one generation and can be passed down to one's children and so on and so forth
- Belief in magic powers as well as a spirit world that are involved in a good well being for the community
The Korafe people are a people that live in a mainly tribal manner as they wear very outlandish headgear as well as many other types of jewelry not commonly found anywhere else. The people were rich in culture and that can be seen within the complexity in the Korafe Language.
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental/Alveolar/Postveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | b | t d | k g | |
| Nasal | m | n | ||
| Tap or Flap | r | |||
| Fricative | f v | s | ç <j> | γ <h> |
| Approximant | j <y> |
The orthography is written in angular brackets where it differs from the IPA.
| front | central | back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open | a | ||
| Mid | e̞ | o̞ | |
| Close | i | u |
Stress
- Stress on syllables comes on different syllables depending on the amount of syllables
- The accent mark also helps to show the location of said syllable that is being stressed
- The first syllable is stressed when the word itself has 2 syllables
- Example: gháka ‘canoe’ jáinjain ‘chirp of a cricket’
- The second syllable is stressed when the word itself has more than 2 syllables
- Example: genémbo ‘man’, gegénembo ‘men’ , tatárigho ‘echo’, ufóngufongu ‘iguana’
- Also the first syllable is stressed when it uses the syllable pattern (C)VV(V)
- The first syllable is stressed when the word itself has 2 syllables
Orthography
| Uppercase letters | A | B | D | E | F | G | Gh | I | J | K | M | N | O | R | S | T | U | V | Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowercase letters | a | b | d | e | f | g | gh | I | j | k | m | n | o | r | s | t | u | v | y |
| IPA | /ɑ/ | /b/ | /d/ | /e/ | /ɸ/ | /ɡ/ | /ɣ/ | /i/ | /ʤ/ | /k/ | /m/ | /n/ | /o/ | /ɾ/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /β/ | /j/ |
Grammar
The Korafe language has primarily SOV or Subject-Object-Verb word order. An example of the use of Subject-Object-Verb word order is shown below:
ere-gov-ena
REP-plant.vs1-PRES.1S.FN
‘I am planting’
Pronouns
| I | you | he,she,it | you(plural)/they | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korafe | na | ni | nu | ne |
Interrogatives
| who | what | which | how | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korafe | ave/mave | re | ningi | ninge |
Stems and Verbs
For stem verbs I the structure of that verb would be said root word followed by -e, -i, or -u.
sé
say.I
íti
cook.I
gémbu
write.I
Stem II verbs are normally somewhat close to Stem I verbs but with a few changes whether it be a vowel shift, reduplication etc. Normally, removes one of the vowels which are most likely -u, or -i
si
say.II
itutu
cook.II
gefu
write.II
Verbs follow serial verb construction, or basically using more than 1 verb next to each other in a clause.
si-r-ur-ono
ay.II-EPEN-IPF-SIM.lR.l
s
S.DS
gefu-sira
write.II-DP.3S.FN
'while I will be speaking' 'he wrote'
Non-Finite Verb Forms
Positive Deverbals
When creating a positive deverbal it is a root word followed by the suffix -ari.
s-ari
say.I-DvB
'to speak/speaking'
it-ari
cook.l-DVB
'to cook/cooking'
gemb-ari
write.I-DVB
'to write/writing'
Negative Deverbals
Negative versions of Positive Deverbals are the same structurally but just has a different suffix which for negatives is -ae
s-ae
say.l-not.do
'not saying'
it-ae
cook.l-not.do
'not cooking'
gemb-ae
write.l-not.do
'not writing'
Verb Formation
In Korafe only one heavy syllable is allowed (vv in the Rhyme)
Almost all imperfective verbs will use the -ere rules
-ere replacement rules
- When the verb is a stem II verb and also follows any of the following order V, CV, VCV, CVCV, VNCV, CVNCV, then the -ere will be put right before the stem word
ere-gefu
IPF-write.TI
'be writing'
ere-bundi
IPF-bind.II
'be binding'
ere-oji
IPF-butcher.I1
'be butchering'
2. Verb is stem two but have longer configurations such as VCVCV, CVCVCV, VNCVCV, CYNCVCV. In this case the -ere rule applies by having the root word followed by -ere.
teteru-ere-u t
eter-er-u
enter.II-IPF-do.lI.IMP
'be entering'
undudu-ere-u
undud-er-u
nurture.11-IPF-do.II'! MP
'be nurturing'
Nominal and Verb Combinations
Some phrases and expressions can be made with the use nominals and verbs together.
| Korafe N(N)+V: | Literal rendering | Free translation |
|---|---|---|
| isoro e | war make | 'wage war on enemies' |
| saramana e | work do | 'work' |
| dubo mema e | neck pain do | 'feel sad, grieve' |
| Baiboro se | Bible say | 'promise on the Bible' |
| kori se | shout say | 'shout' |
| tirotaroghe | ripples do again | ' slosh, ripple, lap' |
| (bain) bainghe | nod do again | 'nod off, bow head' |
The Epenthetic Insertion Rules
The epenthetic rules are used in order to avoid changing the meaning of words that would be changed from suffixes.
Epenthetic r-insertion (imperfective)
For r-insertion it is normally used between the stem II verb and the -uru
gefu-uru
write.I1-IPF
gefu-r-uru
write.II-EPEN-IPF
'be writing while'
r-Insertion for one syllable (Ci or Cu stems)
For this case an r is inserted between the stem II verb and the suffix -arira (will)
barija
rainfall
di-arira
rain-F.3S.FN
barija
rainfall
di-r-arira,
rain-EPEN-F.3S.FN
Not d-arira
'it will rain'
Nouns
| Pre-head | Head | Post-Head |
|---|---|---|
| possessor | noun/nominal compound | (qualifier) (quantifier) (determiner) |
References
- ^ Korafe-Yegha at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Gaina-Bareji at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ not the same as the Yegha dialect of Ewage
- ^ not the same as the Bareji language
- ^ Bradshaw, Joel (2017). Evidence of contact between Binanderean and Oceanic languages. Oceanic Linguistics 56:395–414.
- ^ Farr, James; Farr, Cynthia (2008). "The Korafe-Yegha Dictionary" (PDF).
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
- Farr, C. J. (1998). The interface between syntax and discourse in Korafe, a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
- The Sounds and Colors of a Papua New Guinean Sing-sing – Wild Junket Adventure Travel Blog. (2015, August 21). Retrieved from https://www.wildjunket.com/papua-new-guinea-sing-sing/
External links
- "The Korafe-Yegha Dictionary" (PDF).
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - Korafe-Yegha Swadesh List
- "A Selective Word List in Ten Different Binadere Languages" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
| Authority control databases: National |
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