Kaure language

Kaure
Native toIndonesia
RegionPapua: Aurina, Harna, Lereh, Masta, and Wes villages on the Nawa River
Native speakers
(450 cited 1995)[1]
Dialects
  • Narau
Language codes
ISO 639-3bpp
Glottologkaur1271
ELP
Map: The Kaure, Kapori, and Kosare languages of New Guinea
  The Kaure, Kapori, and Kosare languages
  Other Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Uninhabited

Kaure is a Papuan language of West Papua. It is spoken in the villages of Lereh, Harna, Wes, Masta, and Aurina.[2][3]

Narau is either a dialect or a closely related language. It is known from a short word list in Giël (1959).[4] Texts include Auri et al. (1991).[5]

Phonology

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Consonants

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The Kaure consonants are:[6]: 456 

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced ᵐb ⁿd ʤ
Fricative s h
Liquid l
Semivowel w j

Vowels

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The Kaure vowels are:[6]: 456 

Front Back
Close i, y
Mid e o
Open a

Tone

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Like the Lakes Plain languages, Kaure is a tonal language. There are two tones, namely high and low.[6]: 456 

Monosyllabic minimal pairs showing phonemic tone contrast include:

  • tái ‘footprint’, tài ‘sago’
  • ‘boil’, ‘pig’
  • hín ‘limbum wood’, hìn ‘blood’
  • héik ‘flower’, hèik ‘snake’

In multisyllabic words, only one stressed syllable carries full tone contrasts, while the other syllables are "neutral" or toneless.[6]: 456 

Multisyllabic minimal sets include:

  • káteil ‘toss it’, katéil ‘dry’, katèil ‘dry’
  • nálain ‘female animal’, naláin ‘kind of root’, nalàin ‘to run off’

Pronouns

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Attested pronouns are 1sg wẽ, 2sg hane, 1pl nene. The 2sg form resembles Mek *ka-n, and 1pl resembles Pauwasi numu~nin, but apart from that little can be said.

Kaure pronouns listed by Foley (2018) are:[6]

Independent Possessive prefixes
1excl wen na-
1incl nene nene-
2 hane ha-
3 nene ne-

Kaure pronouns are not specified for number, just like in Nimboran.[6]

Kaure–Kapori hypothesis

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Voorhoeve (1975) suggested that Kaure was related to Kapori and Kosare, two otherwise unclassified languages. However, subsequent evaluations have not found any significant connections (Rumaropen 2006, Wambaliau 2006).

References

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  1. ^ Kaure at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ van Voskuylen, E.; et al. "Kaure" (PDF). Kaure: 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-25.
  3. ^ "Kaure | Ethnologue".
  4. ^ Giël, R. 1959. Exploratie Oost-Meervlakte [Exploration of the Eastern Lakes Plain Area]. Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Ministerie van Koloniën: Kantoor Bevolkingszaken Nieuw-Guinea te Hollandia: Rapportenarchief, 1950–1962, nummer toegang 2.10.25, inventarisnummer 13.
  5. ^ Auri, Piter, Peter R. Dommel and Markus Pokoko. 1991. Kaureki a Opoksel (Percakapan-percakapan Dalam Bahasa Kaure: Kaure Conversations). Jayapura: University of Cenderawasih and Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 433–568. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.

Further reading

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  • Benny Rumaropen (2006). Draft Survey Report on the Kapauri Language of Papua. SIL Electronic Survey Reports.
  • Theresia Wambaliau (2006). Draft Laporan Survei pada Bahasa Kosare di Papua, Indonesia. SIL Electronic Survey Reports.
  • Dommel, Peter R., Gudrun E. Dommel, Pieter Auri and Markus Pokoko. 1991. Kaure Vocabulary. Jayapura: Cooperative Program of the University of Cenderawasih and the Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  • Dommel, Peter R. and Gudrun Dommel. 1993. Orang Kaure. In: Etnografi Irian Jaya: panduan sosial budaya (buku satu). 21–75. [Jayapura]: Kelompok Peneliti Etnografi Irian Jaya.
  • Giël, R. 1959. Exploratie Oost-Meervlakte [Exploration of the Eastern Lakes Plain Area]. Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Ministerie van Koloniën: Kantoor Bevolkingszaken Nieuw-Guinea te Hollandia: Rapportenarchief, 1950–1962, nummer toegang 2.10.25, inventarisnummer 13. (Contains word lists of Taworta, Taria, Airo, Kaowera, Manowa (Boromesso), and Narau)