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Kalam language

Language native to Papua New Guinea From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Kalam is a Kalam language of Papua New Guinea. It is closely related to Kobon, and shares many of the features of that language. Kalam is spoken in Middle Ramu District of Madang Province and in Mount Hagen District of Western Highlands Province.[2]

Quick facts Native to, Region ...

Thanks to decades of studies by anthropologists such as Ralph Bulmer and others, Kalam is one of the best-studied Trans-New Guinea languages to date.

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Dialects

There are two distinct dialects of Kalam that are highly distinguishable from each other.[3]

  • Etp, with 20,000 speakers, is centered in the Upper Kaironk and Upper Simbai Valleys.
  • Ti, with 5,000 speakers is centered in the Asai Valley. It includes the Tai variety.

Kobon is closely related.

Kalam has an elaborate pandanus avoidance register used during karuka harvest that has been extensively documented. The Kalam pandanus language, called alŋaw mnm (pandanus language) or ask-mosk mnm (avoidance language), is also used when eating or cooking cassowary.[4]

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Phonology

Consonants

More information Bilabial, Dental-alveolar ...

Vowels

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Evolution

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See also: Madang languages § Evolution

Below are some Kalam reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea proposed by Pawley (2012, 2018).[3][6][7][8] Data is from the Etp dialect unless otherwise noted. Data from Ti, the other major dialect, is also given when noted.

More information proto-Trans-New Guinea ...
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Verbs

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Kalam has eight tense-aspect categories. There are four past tenses, two present tenses, and two future tenses, which are all marked using suffixes:[7]

  • past habitual
  • remote past (yesterday or earlier)
  • today's past
  • immediate past
  • present habitual
  • present progressive
  • immediate future
  • future

Intransitive verbs in Kalam can be classified as either active or stative. Some active intransitive verbs are:[7]

  • am- 'go'
  • kn- 'sleep'
  • jak- 'stand, dance'
  • kum- 'die, cease to function'

Some stative verbs are:[7]

  • pag- '(of things) break, be broken'
  • sug- '(of a fire) go out'
  • yn- 'burn, be burnt, fully cooked'
  • wk- '(of solid objects and surfaces) crack, burst, shatter'

Serial verb constructions

Transitivity is derived using resultative or cause-effect serial verb constructions.[7]

(1)

pak

strike

sug-

extinguished

pak sug-

strike extinguished

'put out a fire'

(2)

pak

strike

wk-

shattered

pak wk-

strike shattered

'knock something to bits, shatter something'

(3)

pug

blow

sug-

extinguished

pug sug-

blow extinguished

'blow out a flame'

(4)

puŋi

pierce

ask-

opened

puŋi ask-

pierce opened

'prise something open'

(5)

puŋi

pierce

lak-

split

puŋi lak-

pierce split

'split something by wedging or levering'

(6)

taw

step.on

pag

broken

yok-

displaced

taw pag yok-

step.on broken displaced

'break something off by stepping on it'

(7)

tb

cut

kluk

gouge

yok-

displaced

tb kluk yok-

cut gouge displaced

'gouge something out'

Other serial verb constructions in Kalam include:[7]: 117 

  • d ap (get come) 'bring'
  • d am (get go) 'take'
  • am d ap (go get come) 'fetch'
  • d nŋ (touch perceive) 'feel'
  • ñb nŋ (eat perceive) 'taste'
  • tb tk (cut sever) 'cut off'
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Nouns

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Compounds

Some examples of nominal compounds in Kalam:[7]

(1)

bin-b

woman-man

bin-b

woman-man

'person, people'

(2)

ña-pañ

son-daughter

ña-pañ

son-daughter

'child, children'

(3)

aps-basd

grandmother-grandfather

aps-basd

grandmother-grandfather

'grandparents'

(4)

ami-gon

mother-children

bapi-gon

father-children

ami-gon bapi-gon

mother-children father-children

'nuclear family, parents and children'

(5)

kmn-as

game.mammal-small.wild.mammal

kmn-as

game.mammal-small.wild.mammal

'wild mammals'

(6)

kaj-kayn-kobti

pig-dog-cassowary

kaj-kayn-kobti

pig-dog-cassowary

'large animals'

(7)

kmn-kaj-kobti

game.mammal-pig-cassowary

kmn-kaj-kobti

game.mammal-pig-cassowary

'animals that provide ceremonially valued meat'

(8)

mñ-mon

vine-tree

mñ-mon

vine-tree

'land, country, territory, world'

(9)

kneb

sleeping

ameb

going

owep

coming

wog

garden

wati

fence

gep

making

kneb ameb owep wog wati gep

sleeping going coming garden fence making

'everyday activities'

Animal names

Fauna classification (folk taxonomy) in the Kalam language has been extensively studied by Ralph Bulmer and others. Kalam speakers classify wild mammals into three major categories:[7]

Other animal categories are:[7]

  • yakt 'flying birds and bats'
  • kobti 'cassowaries'
  • kaj 'pigs' (formerly including cattle, horses, and goats when first encountered by the Kalam)
  • kayn 'dogs'
  • soyŋ 'certain snakes'
  • yñ 'skinks'

Rodent names include:[6]

Marsupial names include:[6]

Reptile names and folk taxonomy in Kalam:[10]

Frog names in Kalam are:[9]

Note: Cophixalus shellyi, Choerophryne darlingtoni, and Oxydactyla brevicrus also tend to be identified by Kalam speakers as lk if calling from low vegetation, but as gwnm (usually applied to Cophixalus riparius and Xenorhina rostrata) if found in daytime hiding spots.[9]

Plant categories include:[7]

  • mon 'trees and shrubs' (excluding palms and pandans); e.g., bljan 'Macaranga spp.' is a mon that has four named kinds
  • mñ 'vines and robust creepers'

A comprehensive list of Kalam plant and animal names is given below.[6]

More information Scientific name, Common name ...
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Semantics

Colors

Kalam speakers distinguish more than a dozen color categories.[6]

  • tud 'white, light coloured'
  • sum 'grey, esp. of hair'
  • tun 'light grey; ash'
  • mosb 'black, dark coloured'
  • lkañ 'red/purple; blood'
  • pk 'orange/bright reddish-brown/bright yellowish-brown/rich yellow; ripe'
  • sml 'rather bright red-brown/yellow brown'
  • waln 'yellow'
  • mjkmab 'green'
  • ksk 'pale green, yellow-green; unripe (of fruit)'
  • lban 'rich green, sheeny; succulent or mature (of foliage)'
  • gs 'dull brown, green or olive'
  • mlp 'straw coloured; withered (of foliage)'
  • muk 'blue'
  • sŋak 'blue-grey, as blue-grey clay'
  • kl 'striped, spotted, mottled'

Time

Pawley and Bulmer (2011), quoted in Pawley and Hammarström (2018), lists the following temporal adverbs in Kalam.[7][6]

  • mñi 'today'
  • toy 'tomorrow'
  • (toy) menk 'day after tomorrow'
  • toytk 'yesterday'
  • menk atk 'day before yesterday'
  • goson '3 days from today'
  • goson atk '3 days ago'
  • ason '4 days from today'
  • ason atk '4 days ago'
  • goson ason '5 days from today'
  • goson ason atk '5 days ago'
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Morphology

Rhyming compounds

Kalam, like English, has different types of rhyming compounds.[7]

alternating consonants
  • gadal-badal [ŋgándálmbándál] 'placed in a disorderly manner, criss-cross, higgledy-piggledy'
  • gley-wley [ŋgɨléywuléy] 'rattling, clattering'
addition of consonants
  • adk-madk [ándɨkmándɨk] 'turned over, reversed'
  • ask-mask [ásɨkmásɨk] 'ritually restricted'
alternating vowels
  • ñugl-ñagl [ɲúŋgɨlɲáŋgɨl] 'sound of evening chorus of insects and frogs'
  • gtiŋ-gtoŋ [ŋgɨríŋgɨróŋ] 'loud noise, din, racket'
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See also

References

Further reading

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