Sobei language
Sobei | |
---|---|
Native to | Indonesia |
Region | Papua |
Ethnicity | 1,850 (2000)[1] |
Native speakers | 1,000 (2007)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | sob |
Glottolog | sobe1238 |
ELP | Sobei |
Sobei is one of the
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.
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 | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal
|
m | n
|
||||
Plosive | voiceless
|
p | t
|
c
|
k | ʔ |
voiced
|
b | d
|
g | |||
Fricative | f | s | ||||
Liquid | r
|
|||||
Semivowel | w | j |
Morphology
Nouns
Sobei distinguishes
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
allomorphy in their conjugational
paradigms. (See Sterner 1987.)
Person/Number | Realis
|
Irrealis
|
---|---|---|
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
|
Irrealis
|
---|---|---|
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
|
Irrealis
|
---|---|---|
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
|
Irrealis
|
---|---|---|
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
|
Irrealis
|
---|---|---|
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 |
External links
- Paradisec has two collections of Arthur Cappell's materials (AC1, AC2) that include Sobei language materials.
References
- ^ a b Sobei at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- 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.