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Korafe is a Papuan language spoken in Oro Province, in the "tail" of Papua New Guinea. It is part of the Binanderean family of the Trans–New Guinea phylum of languages. Korafe or could also be called Kailikaili, Kaire, Korafe, Korafi, Korape, and Kwarafe is a language spoken in the Oro Province more specifically in the Tufi District, and Cape Nelson Headlands.

Korafe has been heavily influenced by Oceanic languages.

Speakers

For the people that lived of the Korafe language lived with three main principles:

1. Self-sustaining economy
2. Responsibilities and such go beyond one generation and can be passed down to one's children and so on and so forth
3. Belief in magic powers as well as a ] that are involved in a good well being for the community

The Korafe people are a people that live in a mainly tribal manner as they wear very outlandish headgear as well as many other types of jewelry not commonly found anywhere else. The people were rich in culture and that can be seen within the complexity in the Korafe Language.

Phonology

Consonants

The orthography is written in angular brackets where it differs from the IPA.

Stress

• Stress on syllables comes on different syllables depending on the amount of syllables
• The accent mark also helps to show the location of said syllable that is being stressed
  • The first syllable is stressed when the word itself has 2 syllables
    • Example: gháka ‘canoe’ jáinjain ‘chirp of a cricket’
  • The second syllable is stressed when the word itself has more than 2 syllables
    • Example: genémbo ‘man’, gegénembo ‘men’ , tatárigho ‘echo’, ufóngufongu ‘iguana’
  • Also the first syllable is stressed when it uses the syllable pattern (C)VV(V)

Orthography

Grammar

The Korafe language has primarily SOV or Subject-Object-Verb word order. An example of the use of Subject-Object-Verb word order is shown below:

ere-gov-ena

REP-plant.vs1-PRES.1S.FN

ere-gov-ena

REP-plant.vs1-PRES.1S.FN

‘I am planting’

Pronouns

Interrogatives

Stems and Verbs

For stem verbs I the structure of that verb would be said root word followed by -e, -i, or -u.

sé

say.I

íti

cook.I

gémbu

write.I

sé íti gémbu

say.I cook.I write.I

Stem II verbs are normally somewhat close to Stem I verbs but with a few changes whether it be a vowel shift, reduplication etc. Normally, removes one of the vowels which are most likely -u, or -i

si

say.II

itutu

cook.II

gefu

write.II

si itutu gefu

say.II cook.II write.II

Verbs follow serial verb construction, or basically using more than 1 verb next to each other in a clause.

si-r-ur-ono

ay.II-EPEN-IPF-SIM.lR.l

s

S.DS

gefu-sira

write.II-DP.3S.FN

si-r-ur-ono s gefu-sira

ay.II-EPEN-IPF-SIM.lR.l S.DS write.II-DP.3S.FN

'while I will be speaking' 'he wrote'

Non-Finite Verb Forms

Positive Deverbals

When creating a positive deverbal it is a root word followed by the suffix -ari.

s-ari

say.I-DvB

'to speak/speaking'

it-ari

cook.l-DVB

'to cook/cooking'

gemb-ari

write.I-DVB

'to write/writing'

s-ari it-ari gemb-ari

say.I-DvB cook.l-DVB write.I-DVB

{'to speak/speaking'} {'to cook/cooking'} {'to write/writing'}

Negative Deverbals

Negative versions of Positive Deverbals are the same structurally but just has a different suffix which for negatives is -ae

s-ae

say.l-not.do

'not saying'

it-ae

cook.l-not.do

'not cooking'

gemb-ae

write.l-not.do

'not writing'

s-ae it-ae gemb-ae

say.l-not.do cook.l-not.do write.l-not.do

{'not saying'} {'not cooking'} {'not writing'}

Verb Formation

In Korafe only one heavy syllable is allowed (vv in the Rhyme)

Almost all imperfective verbs will use the -ere rules

-ere replacement rules

1. When the verb is a stem II verb and also follows any of the following order V, CV, VCV, CVCV, VNCV, CVNCV, then the -ere will be put right before the stem word

ere-gefu

IPF-write.TI

'be writing'

ere-bundi

IPF-bind.II

'be binding'

ere-oji

IPF-butcher.I1

'be butchering'

ere-gefu ere-bundi ere-oji

IPF-write.TI IPF-bind.II IPF-butcher.I1

{'be writing'} {'be binding'} {'be butchering'}

2. Verb is stem two but have longer configurations such as VCVCV, CVCVCV, VNCVCV, CYNCVCV. In this case the -ere rule applies by having the root word followed by -ere.

teteru-ere-u t

eter-er-u

enter.II-IPF-do.lI.IMP

'be entering'

undudu-ere-u

undud-er-u

nurture.11-IPF-do.II'! MP

'be nurturing'

{teteru-ere-u t} undudu-ere-u

eter-er-u undud-er-u

enter.II-IPF-do.lI.IMP {nurture.11-IPF-do.II'! MP}

{'be entering'} {'be nurturing'}

Nominal and Verb Combinations

Some phrases and expressions can be made with the use nominals and verbs together.

The Epenthetic Insertion Rules

The epenthetic rules are used in order to avoid changing the meaning of words that would be changed from suffixes.

Epenthetic r-insertion (imperfective)

For r-insertion it is normally used between the stem II verb and the -uru

gefu-uru

write.I1-IPF

${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$

${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$

gefu-r-uru

write.II-EPEN-IPF

gefu-uru ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ gefu-r-uru

write.I1-IPF ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ write.II-EPEN-IPF

'be writing while'

r-Insertion for one syllable (Ci or Cu stems)

For this case an r is inserted between the stem II verb and the suffix -arira (will)

barija

rainfall

di-arira

rain-F.3S.FN

${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$

${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$

barija

rainfall

di-r-arira,

rain-EPEN-F.3S.FN

Not ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ d-arira

barija di-arira ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ barija di-r-arira,

rainfall rain-F.3S.FN ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ rainfall rain-EPEN-F.3S.FN

'it will rain'

Nouns

Noun Phrases

References

1. Korafe-Yegha at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Gaina-Bareji at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. not the same as the Yegha dialect of Ewage
3. not the same as the Bareji language
4. Bradshaw, Joel (2017). Evidence of contact between Binanderean and Oceanic languages. Oceanic Linguistics 56:395–414.
5. Farr, James; Farr, Cynthia (2008). "The Korafe-Yegha Dictionary" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

• Farr, C. J. (1998). The interface between syntax and discourse in Korafe, a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
• The Sounds and Colors of a Papua New Guinean Sing-sing – Wild Junket Adventure Travel Blog. (2015, August 21). Retrieved from https://www.wildjunket.com/papua-new-guinea-sing-sing/

External links

• "The Korafe-Yegha Dictionary" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Korafe-Yegha Swadesh List
• "A Selective Word List in Ten Different Binadere Languages" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2018-07-10. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

• Languages of Oro Province
• Greater Binanderean languages