Kembra language

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title: "Kembra language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["critically-endangered-languages", "lepki–murkim-languages", "tonal-languages"] description: "South Pauwasi language of Indonesia" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kembra_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary South Pauwasi language of Indonesia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Kembra
states	Western New Guinea
region	Kiambra village, Kaisenar District, Keerom Regency
ethnicity	50
speakers	20
date	2000
ref	e25
familycolor	Papuan
fam1	Pauwasi
fam2	Yetfa – South Pauwasi
fam3	South Pauwasi
fam4	Lepki–Murkim
map2	Lang Status 20-CR.svg
mapcaption2
iso3	xkw
glotto	kemb1250
glottorefname	Kembra
::

| name = Kembra | nativename = | states = Western New Guinea | region = Kiambra village, Kaisenar District, Keerom Regency | ethnicity = 50 | speakers = 20 | date = 2000 | ref = e25 | familycolor = Papuan | fam1 = Pauwasi | fam2 = Yetfa – South Pauwasi | fam3 = South Pauwasi | fam4 = Lepki–Murkim | map2 = Lang Status 20-CR.svg | mapcaption2 = | iso3 = xkw | glotto = kemb1250 | glottorefname = Kembra

Kembra is a South Pauwasi language spoken in Western New Guinea by some twenty persons in Kiambra village, Kaisenar District, Keerom Regency. It is used by 20–60% of the ethnic population and is no longer passed down to children.

Classification

Initial documentation was carried out by Barnabas Konel and Roger Doriot. Kembra data remains unpublished in Konel's and Doriot's field notes.

Foley (2018) notes that Kembra has some lexical forms resembling Lepki, but not Murkim, hinting at lexical borrowing between Kembra and Lepki, but not Murkim. He allows the possibility of Kembra being related to Lepki–Murkim, pending further evidence. With more data, Usher (2020) was able to verify the connection.

Phonology

Kembra is a tonal language, as shown by the following minimal pair.

• yá 'pig'
• yà 'fire, tree'

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Kembra listed in Foley (2018):

:{| |+ Kembra basic vocabulary ! gloss !! Kembra |- | 'bird' || tra |- | 'blood' || nili |- | 'bone' || ka |- | 'eat' || ɲəm |- | 'egg' || traləl |- | 'eye' || yi |- | 'fire' || ya |- | 'give' || lokwes |- | 'ground' || to |- | 'hair' || iyet |- | 'I' || mu |- | 'leg' || kla |- | 'louse' || nim |- | 'man' || ratera |- | 'name' || kia |- | 'one' || kutina |- | 'see' || iyam |- | 'stone' || isi |- | 'sun' || ota |- | 'tooth' || pa |- | 'tree' || ya |- | 'two' || kais |- | 'water' || er |- | 'we' || utuas |- | 'you (sg)' || amagrei |- | 'you (pl)' || robkei |}

Sentences

Kembra has SOV word order, and also appears to have bipartite negation as in Abun and French. Only several sentences have been elicited by Konel (n.d.), which are quoted below from Foley (2018).

|pei yá por ɲəm |dog pig black eat |'The dog ate the black pig.'}}

|mu ipei ɲəm |1SG betelnut eat |'I'm chewing betelnut.'}}

|mu pei te-iya-mo |1SG dog ?-see-TNS |'I see the dog.'}}

|mu ipei abi-ɲi koto |1SG betelnut NEG-eat NEG |'I didn't eat betelnut.'}}

|mu pei abi-(i)ya koto |1SG dog NEG-see NEG |'I didn't see the dog.'}}

References

References

1. Konel, Barnabas. n.d. Wordlist of Kembra. Photocopy of handwritten ms.
2. Doriot, Roger E. 1991. 6-2-3-4 Trek, April–May, 1991. Ms.
3. Foley, William A.. (2018). "The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide". De Gruyter Mouton.
4. Foley, William A.. (2018). "The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide". De Gruyter Mouton.

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