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Anêm language

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The Anêm language is a Papuan language spoken in five main villages along the northwestern coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Anêm
Pronunciation[anɤm]
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionWest New Britain Province
Native speakers
800 (2011)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3anz
Glottologanem1249
ELPAnem
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External relationships

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Anêm may be related to neighboring Ata and possibly to Yélî Dnye. Stebbins et al. state that further data on Anêm and Ata would be useful for exploring the possible connection between them.[2]

Demographics

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Anêm is spoken in the following villages of West New Britain Province:

All of the villages above are located in Kove-Kaliai Rural LLG of West New Britain Province, except for Malasoŋo, which is located in Gurrissi ward of Gloucester Rural LLG, West New Britain Province.[3]

Anêm is also spoken by small numbers of people, mostly of Anêm descent, scattered among the surrounding villages. There are two main dialects.

Akiblîk, the dialect of Bolo, was near functional extinction in 1982, the youngest speaker then being about 35 years old. The main dialect is spoken in the other villages named above. There are about 800 speakers.

Phonology

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Consonants[2]
Labial Alveolar Palatal / Velar
Nasal m n ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive Voiceless p t k
Voiced b d ɡ
Trill r
Fricative β ⟨v⟩ s x~ɣ ⟨x⟩*
Approximant l j ⟨y⟩

⟨x⟩ is listed as a post-velar trill in Thurston (1982),[4] but as a velar fricative in Stebbins (2018).[2]

Vowels[4]
Front Central Back
Unrounded Rounded
High i ɯ ⟨î⟩ u
Mid e ɤ ⟨ê⟩ o
Low a

Grammar

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Anêm is notable for having at least 20 possessive classes.[5][6]

Syntax

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Anêm is an accusative language with unmarked subject–verb–object word order in plain statements. Yes/no questions are indicated with an intonation contour rather than alterations in word order. Negation (not, not yet, don't) and completive aspect (already) are indicated by modality markers which occur in clause-final position. Tense is not indicated directly. There are three distinctions of mood (realis, irrealis and hortative). Realis refers to something that has happened or is happening; irrealis refers to future tense and hypotheticals; and hortative (only in third persons) is used in commands.

  • Transitive clauses showing subject–verb–object order:

Tita-nae

father-my

u-b-î

REAL.he-kill-them

aba

pig

niak.

two

Tita-nae u-b-î aba niak.

father-my REAL.he-kill-them pig two

'My father killed two pigs.'

Aia-nae

mother-my

i-sama-dî

REAL.she-seek-it

uas.

tobacco

Aia-nae i-sama-dî uas.

mother-my REAL.she-seek-it tobacco

'My mother is looking for some tobacco.'

  • Negative markers are clause final:

U-k

REAL.he-go

a-xî

to-it

nan?

garden

U-k a-xî nan?

REAL.he-go to-it garden

'Did he go to the garden?'

U-k

REAL.he-go

a-xî

to-it

nan

garden

mantu.

not

U-k a-xî nan mantu.

REAL.he-go to-it garden not

'He didn't go to the garden.'

U-k

REAL.he-go

a-xî

to-it

nan

garden

pmaga.

not.yet

U-k a-xî nan pmaga.

REAL.he-go to-it garden not.yet

'He hasn't gone to the garden yet.'

Na-k

REAL.you-go

a-xî

to-it

nan

garden

êbêl.

don't

Na-k a-xî nan êbêl.

REAL.you-go to-it garden don't

'Don't go to the garden.'

o-k

HORT.he-go

a-xî

to-it

nan!

garden

o-k a-xî nan!

HORT.he-go to-it garden

"Let him go to the garden!'

Nouns

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Anêm nouns are distinguished syntactically for gender, masculine or feminine. Masculine nouns are followed by demonstratives or relative pronouns that begin with /l/ while feminine nouns are followed by demonstratives or relative pronouns that begin with /s/. In addition, both subject prefixes and some object suffixes agree in gender with the noun they refer to:

  • Masculine and feminine gender forms of demonstratives:

Doxa

person

lê

the.M

u-ko-lo.

REAL.he-see-him

Doxa lê u-ko-lo.

person the.M REAL.he-see-him

'The man saw him.'

Doxa

person

sê

the.F

i-ko-lo.

REAL.she-see-him.

Doxa sê i-ko-lo.

person the.F REAL.she-see-him.

'The woman saw him.'

  • Gender agreement by subject prefix and object suffix:

Onu

people

lê

the.M

i-kê-lêm.

REAL.they-see-her.

Onu lê i-kê-lêm.

people the.M REAL.they-see-her.

'The people saw her.'

There are 20 possession classes in Anêm. Meanings vary depending on the assigned noun class, as shown in the examples below, with ki ‘hair’ as the noun root.[2]

  • ki-l-e ‘my hair (head)’
  • ki-ŋ-e ‘my hair (pubic)’
  • ki-g-a ‘my hair (body)’

Vocabulary

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100-word Swadesh list of Anêm:[4]: 82–84 

gloss Anêm
I ue
you (sg.) nin
we miŋ / mîn
this (masc.) ler
this (fem.) ser
that (masc.) lan
that (fem.) san
who? mên
what? gîmên
not mantu
all buno
many buno
one mîdê
two niak
big omba
long sêgêl
small boid
woman dobalîŋ
man axaŋ
person doxam
fish ia
bird êknîn
dog kaua
louse seim
tree aŋ
seed lali
leaf ki
root zilŋon
bark palau
skin palau
flesh be
blood esin
bone exe
grease êmzêk
egg nil
horn
tail taba
feather ki
hair ki
head og
ear gêt
eye ei
nose piŋi
mouth boŋ
tooth lo
tongue êlêŋ
claw gi
foot ti
knee bol
hand tîm
belly êtêl
neck agîm
breasts i
heart dokam
liver êl
drink -ik
eat
bite -ŋai
see -kê
hear -degiŋ
know -pun
sleep -sêm / -tel
die -zik / -lkîl
kill -b / -pel
swim -us
fly -iê
walk -li
come -mên
lie -sêm / -tel
sit -sîk / -sîl
stand -lîk / -lul
give -sn
say -ual
sun ado
moon klîŋ
star eilî
water komu
rain iuo
stone pa
sand iabu
earth eidî
cloud olok
smoke bîl
fire kmî
ash goxub
burn -pma
path iuŋ
mountain êbêt
red êxiêk
green / blue biê
yellow iaŋo
white iagu
black kŋîx
night nib
hot êŋîl
cold epen
full êpêx
new masîk
good leim
round puax
dry pît
name eŋi

See also

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Further reading

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  • Thurston, William R. 1982. A comparative study in Anem and Lusi. Pacific Linguistics B-83. Canberra: Australian National University.

References

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  1. ^ Anêm at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c d Stebbins, Tonya; Evans, Bethwyn; Terrill, Angela (2018). "The Papuan languages of Island Melanesia". 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. 775–894. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. ^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
  4. ^ a b c Thurston, William. 1982. A comparative study of Anêm and Lusi. Pacific Linguistics: Series B, 83. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
  5. ^ "Chapter Possessive Classification". WALS Online. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  6. ^ Nichols, Johanna; Bickel, Balthasar. "Possessive Classification". World Atlas of Language Structures. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
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