Mali | |
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Gaktai | |
Region | New Britain |
Native speakers | (2,200 cited 1988)[1] |
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | gcc |
Glottolog | mali1284 |
Coordinates: 4°58′13″S 152°02′37″E / 4.970382°S 152.043503°E / -4.970382; 152.043503 (Marunga Village) |
MaliorGaktai is a Papuan language spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
There are two dialects of Mali:[2]
The phonology of the Mali language:[4]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ||
Fricative | β | s | |||
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
Approximant | w | ɹ | j | ɰ | |
Lateral | l | ||||
Rhotic | r |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | u | |
Mid | e | ə | o |
Low | a |
Mali makes use of noun classes. Below are some Mali noun class paradigms, using the noun root amēng ‘tree’ as an example:[5]: 802
Noun class | Singular | Dual | Plural | Gloss |
---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine (m) | amēng-ka | amēng-iom | amēng | ‘slender tree’ |
Feminine (f) | amēng-ki | amēng-vem | amēng | ‘large full grown tree’ |
Diminutive (dim) | amēng-ini | amēng-ithom | amēng-ithong | ‘stick’ |
Reduced (rcd) | amēng-ēm | amēng-vam | amēng-vap | ‘tree stump’ |
Flat (flat) | ― | ― | ― | ― |
Excised (exc) | amēng-igl | amēng-iglem | amēng-igleng | ‘plank’ |
Long (long) | amēng-vēt | amēng-imelēm | amēng-imelēk | ‘pole’ |
Extended (ext) | amēng-ia | amēng-inēm | amēng-inēk | ‘large log’ |
Count neutral (cn) | amēng | ‘wood or trees’ |
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Official languages |
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Major Indigenous languages |
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Other Papuan languages |
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Sign languages |
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