Awtuw | |
---|---|
Region | East Wapei Rural LLG, Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea |
Native speakers | 700 (2014)[1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | kmn |
Glottolog | awtu1239 |
ELP | Awtuw |
Awtuw (Autu), also known as Kamnum, is spoken in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. It is a polysynthetic language closely related to Karawa and Pouye. It is spoken in Galkutua, Gutaiya (3°33′56″S 142°00′06″E / 3.565508°S 142.001655°E), Kamnom (3°33′09″S 141°59′39″E / 3.552454°S 141.994165°E), Tubum (3°34′03″S 142°00′13″E / 3.567408°S 142.003722°E), and Wiup (3°33′14″S 141°59′04″E / 3.553766°S 141.9845°E) villages in Kamnom East ward, East Wapei Rural LLG, Sandaun Province.[1][2]
It is an endangered language, being widely replaced by Tok Pisin.
Awtuw consonants are:[3]
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
Plosive | p | t | k | |
Rhotic | r | ɻ | ||
Lateral | l | |||
Semivowel | w | j |
Awtuw vowels are:[3]
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Close-mid | e | ə | o |
Near-open | æ | ||
Open | a |
Pronouns are:[3]
sg | du | pl | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | wan | nan | nom |
2 | yen | an | om |
3m | rey | ræw | rom |
3f | tey |
Awtuw has a very rich verbal morphology, with 8 prefixal slots encoding tense, aspect, modality, polarity, subject number and reciprocal.[4]). Six of these slots contain prefixes that have cognates in Pouye.[5]
The suffixal chain contains recently grammaticalized suffixes encoding associated motion, aspect, benefactive, and various unusual categories such as celerative -imya 'quickly' as in (1) (grammaticalized from the verb imya 'run'),[6] simulative -panya 'pretend',[7] and periodic tense (adauroral -alw 'until dawn').[8]
Rey
3sg:MASC
aeye
food
rokr’-imy’-e.
cook-CELER-PST
'He cooked the food quickly.' (Feldman 1983: 122–123)