Anêm language

The Anêm language is a Papuan language spoken in five main villages along the northwestern coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Anêm
Pronunciation[anɤm]
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionWest New Britain Province
Native speakers
800 (2011)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3anz
Glottologanem1249
ELPAnem

External relationships

Anêm may be related to neighboring Ata and possibly to Yélî Dnye. Stebbins et al. state that further data on Anêm and Ata would be useful for exploring the possible connection between them.[2]

Demographics

Anêm is spoken in the following villages of West New Britain Province:

All of the villages above are located in Kove-Kaliai Rural LLG of West New Britain Province, except for Malasoŋo, which is located in Gurrissi ward of Gloucester Rural LLG, West New Britain Province.[3]

Anêm is also spoken by small numbers of people, mostly of Anêm descent, scattered among the surrounding villages. There are two main dialects.

Akiblîk, the dialect of Bolo, was near functional extinction in 1982, the youngest speaker then being about 35 years old. The main dialect is spoken in the other villages named above. There are about 800 speakers.

Phonology

Consonants:[2]
Labial Alveolar Palatal / Velar
Nasal m n ŋ ng
Plosive Voiceless p t k
Voiced b d ɡ
Trill r
Fricative β v s x~ɣ x*
Approximant l j y

x is listed as a post-velar trill in Thurston (1982),[4] but as a velar fricative in Stebbins (2018).[2]

Grammar

Anêm is notable for having at least 20 possessive classes.[5][6]

Syntax

Anêm is an accusative language with unmarked subject–verb–object word order in plain statements. Yes/no questions are indicated with an intonation contour rather than alterations in word order. Negation (not, not yet, don't) and completive aspect (already) are indicated by modality markers which occur in clause-final position. Tense is not indicated directly. There are three distinctions of mood (realis, irrealis and hortative). Realis refers to something that has happened or is happening; irrealis refers to future tense and hypotheticals; and hortative (only in third persons) is used in commands.

  • Transitive clauses showing subject–verb–object order:

Tita-nae

father-my

u-b-î

REAL.he-kill-them

aba

pig

niak.

two

Tita-nae u-b-î aba niak.

father-my REAL.he-kill-them pig two

'My father killed two pigs.'

Aia-nae

mother-my

i-sama-dî

REAL.she-seek-it

uas.

tobacco

Aia-nae i-sama-dî uas.

mother-my REAL.she-seek-it tobacco

'My mother is looking for some tobacco.'

  • Negative markers are clause final:

U-k

REAL.he-go

a-xî

to-it

nan?

garden

U-k a-xî nan?

REAL.he-go to-it garden

'Did he go to the garden?'

U-k

REAL.he-go

a-xî

to-it

nan

garden

mantu.

not

U-k a-xî nan mantu.

REAL.he-go to-it garden not

'He didn't go to the garden.'

U-k

REAL.he-go

a-xî

to-it

nan

garden

pmaga.

not.yet

U-k a-xî nan pmaga.

REAL.he-go to-it garden not.yet

'He hasn't gone to the garden yet.'

Na-k

REAL.you-go

a-xî

to-it

nan

garden

êbêl.

don't

Na-k a-xî nan êbêl.

REAL.you-go to-it garden don't

'Don't go to the garden.'

o-k

HORT.he-go

a-xî

to-it

nan!

garden

o-k a-xî nan!

HORT.he-go to-it garden

"Let him go to the garden!'

Nouns

Anêm nouns are distinguished syntactically for gender, masculine or feminine. Masculine nouns are followed by demonstratives or relative pronouns that begin with /l/ while feminine nouns are followed by demonstratives or relative pronouns that begin with /s/. In addition, both subject prefixes and some object suffixes agree in gender with the noun they refer to:

  • Masculine and feminine gender forms of demonstratives:

Doxa

person

the.M

u-ko-lo.

REAL.he-see-him

Doxa lê u-ko-lo.

person the.M REAL.he-see-him

'The man saw him.'

Doxa

person

the.F

i-ko-lo.

REAL.she-see-him.

Doxa sê i-ko-lo.

person the.F REAL.she-see-him.

'The woman saw him.'

  • Gender agreement by subject prefix and object suffix:

Onu

people

the.M

i-kê-lêm.

REAL.they-see-her.

Onu lê i-kê-lêm.

people the.M REAL.they-see-her.

'The people saw her.'

There are 20 possession classes in Anêm. Meanings vary depending on the assigned noun class, as shown in the examples below, with ki ‘hair’ as the noun root.[2]

  • ki-l-e ‘my hair (head)’
  • ki-ŋ-e ‘my hair (pubic)’
  • ki-g-a ‘my hair (body)’

Vocabulary

100-word Swadesh list of Anêm:[4]:82–84

glossAnêm
Iue
you (sg.)nin
wemiŋ / mîn
this (masc.)ler
this (fem.)ser
that (masc.)lan
that (fem.)san
who?mên
what?gîmên
notmantu
allbuno
manybuno
onemîdê
twoniak
bigomba
longsêgêl
smallboid
womandobalîŋ
manaxaŋ
persondoxam
fishia
birdêknîn
dogkaua
louseseim
tree
seedlali
leafki
rootzilŋon
barkpalau
skinpalau
fleshbe
bloodesin
boneexe
greaseêmzêk
eggnil
horn
tailtaba
featherki
hairki
headog
eargêt
eyeei
nosepiŋi
mouthboŋ
toothlo
tongueêlêŋ
clawgi
footti
kneebol
handtîm
bellyêtêl
neckagîm
breastsi
heartdokam
liverêl
drink-ik
eat
bite-ŋai
see-kê
hear-degiŋ
know-pun
sleep-sêm / -tel
die-zik / -lkîl
kill-b / -pel
swim-us
fly-iê
walk-li
come-mên
lie-sêm / -tel
sit-sîk / -sîl
stand-lîk / -lul
give-sn
say-ual
sunado
moonklîŋ
stareilî
waterkomu
rainiuo
stonepa
sandiabu
eartheidî
cloudolok
smokebîl
firekmî
ashgoxub
burn-pma
pathiuŋ
mountainêbêt
redêxiêk
green / bluebiê
yellowiaŋo
whiteiagu
blackkŋîx
nightnib
hotêŋîl
coldepen
fullêpêx
newmasîk
goodleim
roundpuax
drypît
nameeŋi

See also

Further reading

  • Thurston, William R. 1982. A comparative study in Anem and Lusi. Pacific Linguistics B-83. Canberra: Australian National University.

References

  1. Anêm at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Stebbins, Tonya; Evans, Bethwyn; Terrill, Angela (2018). "The Papuan languages of Island Melanesia". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 775–894. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
  4. Thurston, William. 1982. A comparative study of Anêm and Lusi. Pacific Linguistics: Series B, 83. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
  5. "Chapter Possessive Classification". WALS Online. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  6. Nichols, Johanna; Bickel, Balthasar. "Possessive Classification". World Atlas of Language Structures. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
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