Sobei language

Sobei is one of the Sarmi languages spoken in three villages (Sarmi, Sawar, and Bagaiserwar) near the district center of Sarmi in Papua province of Indonesia. Ethnologue (2005) cites two third-party population estimates of 1,000 and 1,850, while Sterner estimates the population at 1,500 (1975) and 2,000 (1987), based on actual residence in the area.

Sobei
Native toIndonesia
RegionPapua
Ethnicity1,850 (2000)[1]
Native speakers
1,000 (2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3sob
Glottologsobe1238
ELPSobei[2]

Phonology

Sobei reflexes of some common Austronesian etyma include ima 'hand', betwe 'star', daidu 'two', faso 'paddle', fau 'four', mam 'father', nen 'mother', natu '(his/her) child', niwe 'coconut', pana 'food', puwe 'betelnut', rani 'water', rau 'leaf', -sa 'up', -si 'down', siso 'breast', tafi 'sugarcane', tano 'rain', temto 'man', tesese 'one', tou 'three', wane 'sand', yafu 'fire' (all gleaned from J. Sterner 1975).

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i u
Mid ɛ o
Low a

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveopalatal Velar Glottal
Voiceless stops p t c k ʔ
Voiced stops b d g
Fricatives f s
Nasal m n
Liquid r
Approximant w j

Morphology

Nouns

Sobei distinguishes alienable possession from inalienable possession by directly suffixing nouns in the latter type of relationship, principally body parts and kin terms. The morphophonemics are often complex: natu’ 'my child', natun 'his/her child', netrirse 'our child(ren)', netrise 'their child(ren)'; dabu'sa'a 'my head', dabusa'a 'his/her head', debrirsa'a 'our heads', debrisa'a 'their heads' (Sterner 1987). The following paradigm of the inalienably possessed noun tema- 'father' is from Sterner (1976). The intermediate -ri- before the possessive suffix serves as a plural marker. As an independent pronoun, ri is 3rd person plural ('they'). Some kin terms that do not take the possessive suffixes nevertheless have plural forms ending in -(r)i: wawa-ri 'uncle-PL', tinan-i 'mother-PL', nabai-yi 'cousin-PL' (Sterner 1976).

Person Singular Plural
1st person inclusive tema-ri-rse
1st person exclusive tema-' tema-ri-mse
2nd person tema-m tema-ri-mse
3rd person tema-n tema-ri-se

Independent pronouns

Person Singular Plural
1st person inclusive rer
1st person exclusive ya mim
2nd person u yam
3rd person e ri

Verbs

Sobei verb stems can include a number of aspectual, reciprocal, modificational, or directional affixes, but every verb is minimally prefixed to show the grammatical person and number of its subject and grammatical mood (realis or irrealis). Mood markers differ according to whether the stem is simple or complex, and some classes of verbs show stem allomorphy in their conjugational paradigms. (See Sterner 1987.)

Person/Number Realis 'come' Irrealis 'come'
1SG yomi ima
2SG umi ama
3SG ema ama
1PL INCL timi tama
1PL EXCL mimi 'a'ma
2PL mimi 'a'ma
3PL rimi riama
Person/Number Realis 'make' Irrealis 'make'
1SG yofi yafei
2SG ufi afei
3SG efei afei
1PL INCL tifi tafei
1PL EXCL mifi 'a'fei
2PL mifi 'a'fei
3PL rifi riafei
Person/Number Realis 'cry' Irrealis 'cry'
1SG yotin itan
2SG utin atan
3SG etan atan
1PL INCL titin tatan
1PL EXCL mitin 'a'tan
2PL mitin 'a'tan
3PL ritin riatan
Person/Number Realis 'eat' Irrealis 'eat'
1SG win an
2SG win kin
3SG an an
1PL INCL tin ta'an
1PL EXCL min 'e'kin
2PL min 'e'kin
3PL rin riekin
Person/Number Realis 'be' Irrealis 'be'
1SG wen wan
2SG wen en
3SG den an
1PL INCL ten tan
1PL EXCL men 'e'en
2PL men 'e'en
3PL ren rie'en
  • Paradisec has two collections of Arthur Cappell's materials (AC1, AC2) that include Sobei language materials.

References

  • Sterner, Joyce K. 1987. Sobei verb morphology reanalyzed to reflect POC studies. Oceanic Linguistics 14:146-167.
  • Sterner, Joyce K. 1976. A comprehensive look at Sobei phrases and words. In From Baudi to Indonesian: Studies in linguistics, ed. by Ignatius Suharno and Kenneth L. Pike, pp. 153–176. Jayapura, Cenderawasih University and the Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  • Sterner, Joyce K. 1975. Sobei phonology. Oceanic Linguistics 14:146-167.
  • Sterner, Robert H. 1975. Sobei verb inflection. Oceanic Linguistics 14:128-145.
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