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Nabak (also known as Wain) is a Papuan language spoken by around 16,000 people in the Morobe Province located in the western Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea. Nabak follows the SOV typology. It uses Latin script in its written form.

Classification and language status

Nabak is sub-grouped into the Trans-New Guinea, Finisterre-Huon, Western, Huon language family. The Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGDIS) has the Nabak level 5. A level 5 language is considered as “developing”, meaning that Nabak is thriving but a standardized form is not widespread. Level 1 speakers, or native speakers, on average are about 50 to 75 percent fluent in Nabak. The language is spread throughout approximately 30 settlements, totaling 52 villages in the Busu river east headwaters.

Phonology

Consonants

Allophones of /kʷ, ɡʷ/ can be heard as . Allophones of sounds /s, z, l, w/ can be heard as .

Vowels

Written form: â, a, e, i, o, u

Words

Nouns

Nouns can be pluralized and/or possessed. If a noun is pluralized, then the possessive noun indicator must also be present. Nouns that are body-parts are typically in the possessive form, unless making an objective statement.

Examples

• bet = a hand
• bedi = your hand

• zikat = an eye
• zikalidne = their (dual) eyes

• kwaŋ = grass
• kwaŋaŋ = his grass
• tunne = my rivers

The structure of nouns

Possessive suffixes

Pronouns

There are many pronouns in the Nabak language. Formal genitive pronouns are not as widespread there is no direct translation to English third-person pronouns. Formal genitive pronouns only exists in the interrogative form.

First person pronouns

Adjectives

Adjectives and nouns are part of the same word class in the Nabak Language. This category only serves to illustrate nouns that can modify a head noun. Though, a dilemma occurs because these modifier nouns can also act as the head nouns that they are modifying. It is important to identify when describing ‘adjectives’ in Nabak, what is being described are words that are part of the noun class.

Examples

Quality:

• dolak-ŋaŋ = good
• sambubu-ŋaŋ = rotten

Size:

• tembe = big
• isik-ŋaŋ = little

Dimensions:

• teep-maŋ = tall/long
• Da-naŋ = short

Color

• ŋa-maŋ = red
• sat-naŋ = white

Weight

• nuk-ŋaŋ = heavy
• Imbela-ŋaŋ = light

Numbers

1. kwep = one
2. zut = two
3. tuk = three

(*Note that phrases represent higher numbers*)

Verbs

Verbs consists of an optional prefix, with a verb stem, then with an optional first-order aspect suffix.

There are medial verbs and final verbs. Final verbs are located at the end of a sentence. Medial verbs can be located anywhere but at the end of a sentence.

Structure of medial and final verbs

Interrogatives

Polar interrogatives are made from declarative statements simply by changing the vocal intonation so that there is a higher pitch at the end of a sentence.

Non-polar interrogatives are made by using the words equivalent to “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, etc.

Emotion and interrogatives

Interrogatives can also be used to introduce emotion into a story. This is done by the storyteller making the participant in a story ask a question to themselves, letting the listeners of the story what emotion they are dealing with.

References

1. ^ Nabak at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. ^ Fabian, Grace; Fabian, Edmund; Waters, Bruce (1998). Morphology, Syntax and Cohesion in Nabak, Papua New GuineaPacific Linguistics, The Australian National University.

• Languages of Morobe Province
• Huon languages