Musom language
Musom is an Austronesian language spoken in the single village of Musom (6.683574°S 147.11452°E) in Labuta Rural LLG, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.[3] The other name for Musom is Misatik, given by the older generations because this was the name of the village that the ancestors settled on.[4] Musom is currently an endangered language due to the fact that native Musom speakers are continuing to marry other language speakers.[4] Musom is also endangered because of its change in grammar and vocabulary due to its bi- and multilingualism.[4] In the Musom village, other languages that Musom speakers may speak are Aribwuang and Duwet.[4] In the Gwabadik village, because of intermarriages other languages that Musom speakers may speak are Nabak and Mesem.[4]
Musom | |
---|---|
Misatik | |
Region | Markham Valley, New Guinea |
Native speakers | 200 (2000)[1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | msu |
Glottolog | muso1238 |
ELP | Musom [2] |
Coordinates: 6.683574°S 147.11452°E |
Phonology
Bilabial | Alveolar | Affricated
Alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | Labio-velar | |
Stop: Voiceless | p | t | ts | k | ' | kw |
Voiced | b | d | dz | g | gw | |
Prenasalised | (nts) | |||||
Voiceless | ||||||
Voiced | mb | nd | ndz | ngg | ||
Nasal | m | n | ng | |||
Fricatives | s | h | ||||
Liquid | r | |||||
Semi-vowel | w |
In Musom, voiceless, voiced and prenasalised voice are the only series of stops when it comes to consonants.[4] For Musom consonants, if there is a prenasalised voice stop, the vowel is then seen after it and is can be as nasal only.[4] Allophones are contained in the prenasalised voiced affricated alveolar stop /ndz/ which occurs initially, medially, and then [nts] occurs finally.[4]
For the consonants, /w, kw, gw/ they do not occur initially, medially and finally, but all other consonants do.[4] Other consonants that do not occur finally are /d, g, ndz/.[4] When the word ends in with a consonant and the next word also begins with a consonant, a prothetic a is put in between the words.[4] For the consonant /r/, it contains two allophones [r] and [l], but only in free variation.[4]
Front | Central | Back | |
High | i | u | |
Mid | e | o | |
Low | a | ||
Diphthongs: ai, ou, au, oi, oai |
When Musom is compared to Yabim, there are claims that infer that Musom may have a 7-vowel system.[4]
Syllable Structure
Musom language has a syllable structure of (C) V (C) (V) (C).[4]
Morphophonemics
In Musom language, if a speaker were to talk fast, /u/ could be heard as [i].[4] Some examples that could be heard are:[4]
- num > [nim] drink
- wutsin . [witsin] inside
If a subject pronoun prefix that contains a vowel, comes before the root that is within a vowel (verb root), the verb root changes according to what came before it.[4] Some examples are:[4]
- mbidi stand up
a-mbidi 1st person subject > u-mbudi 2nd person subject
i-mbidi 3rd person subject
- mbitsi cook on fire
a-mbitsi 1st person subject > u-mbutsi 2nd person subject
i-imbitsi 3rd person subject
Words that contain multiple syllables, those syllables could be dropped or centralized.[4] A vowel turns into schwa [ə] in the unstressed syllable.[4] Here is an example:[4]
- 'apun completive particle > ['apm] ~ ['apəm]
Pronouns
Focal pronouns are able to be used as subjects and objects of verbs.[4] Prepositions only occur with objects of verbs.[4] Focal pronouns are also found in a possessive phrase.[4] For 1st singular, short form only occurs when wir is switched for u or ur.[4]
SG | DU | PL | |
1 excl. | wir/u/ur | sikin | tse |
1 incl. | - | suk | tsir |
2 | ingg | som sikin | tsom |
3 | in | isikin | is |
Interrogative pronouns can be seen with who and what.[4] In Musom, who and what can be used with two different pronouns.[4] Those two different pronouns are:[4]
- asa "who"
- sira "what"
Some examples of these two pronouns are:[4]
- in asa? Who is he?
Rak anu sira? What is that there?
Asa ngaing gi-its ingg? Who hit you? (lit. Which man hit you?)
Both reflexive and emphatic pronouns both mean Pronoun + self.[4] This table shows the reflexive and emphatic pronouns:[4]
SG | DU | PL | |
1EXC | (o)rong | ro(ng)geng | ro(ng)geng |
1INC | - | rons | rons |
2 | (i)rom | romem | romem |
3 | ron | rons | rons |
Possession
The first type of possession in Musom has inalienable nouns.[4] Some examples of these inalienable nouns are kin terms, body parts, name, namesake, friend or trade partner.[4]
SG | DU | PL | |
1EXC | wir/ur a + N-ng(g) | sikin a + N-ng (g) | tse + N-ng(g) |
1INC | suk a + N-ng(g) | tsir a + N-ng(g) | |
2 | ingg a + N-m | som sikin a + N-m | tsom a + N-m |
3 | in a + N-n | isikin a + N-n | is a + N-m |
The second type of possession in Musom is Alienable possession.[4] The second type of possession holds all the nouns that are not in the first type.[4] The possessive phrase can contain noun or pronoun possession, and prothetic a.[4] Then there is a noun that is not attributed to the possessive markers which is the noun possessed.[4] Here are some examples:[4]
- wir a om my house
ingg a mimin your betelnut
in a tahung his smoke
is a kom/kom a is en their dog
Sentence Structure
Coordination
In the Musom language, sentences can be formed by using conjunctions such as da 'and, but' and ma 'or'.[4] One example using da is:[4]
- Tse g-a-k g-a-bitsi ung da g-a-hur
weEXC P-SPP1-go P-SPP1-cook breadfruit and P-SPP1-fish
We cooked breadfruit and fished (for crayfish) in the river.
One example using ma is:[4]
- Ingg ng-u-ak Madang ma ingg ng-u-ak
youSG IRR-SPP2-go Madang or youSG IRR-SPP2-go
You can go to Madang or you can go to Ramu.
Conditional
The Musom language when using conditional sentences can be found in the form of:[4]
da + Subject 1 + ng-SPP-V da + Subject 2 bo-ng-SPP-V
An example using a conditional sentence is:[4]
- Da amik ng-i-ruk wir bo-ng-a-bum omb.
and rain IRR-SPP3-fall I FUT-IRR-SPP1-stay village
If it rains I will stay in the village
References
- Musom at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- Endangered Languages Project data for Musom.
- Holzknecht, Susanne (1989). The Markham Languages of Papua New Guinea. Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 0-85883-394-8.
- Wurm, Stephen A. (1997). Materials on Languages in Danger of Disappearing in the Asia-Pacific Region No. 1. Australia: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 67–102. ISBN 0 85883 467 7.