Kiwai language

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Papuan language

title: "Kiwai language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["kiwaian-languages", "languages-of-gulf-province"] description: "Papuan language" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwai_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Papuan language ::

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

Field	Value
name	Kiwai
states	Papua New Guinea
region	Western Province, Fly River delta, Torres Strait Islands
speakers	ca. 30,000
date	2011
ref	e18
familycolor	Papuan
fam1	Kiwaian
lc1	kiw
lc2	kjd
dia1	Doumori
dia2	Coast Kiwai
dia3	Southern Coast Kiwai
dia4	Daru Kiwai
dia5	Eastern Kiwai
dia6	Island Kiwai
dia7	Gibaio
dia8	Kope (Gope, Era River)
dia9	Urama
dia10	Arigibi (Anigibi)
glotto	nort2930
glottoname	Northeast
glottorefname	Northeast Kiwai
glotto2	sout2949
glottoname2	Southern
glottorefname2	Southern Kiwai
::

Kiwai is a Papuan language, or languages, of southern Papua New Guinea. Dialects number 1,300 Kope, 700 Gibaio, 1,700 Urama, 700 Arigibi (together "Northeast Kiwai"), 3,800 Coast, 1,000 Daru, 4,500 Island, 400 Doumori (together "Southern Kiwai"). Wurm and Hattori (1981) classify Arigibi as a separate language.

Introduction

Kiwai Island is a long/low island located on the Eastern side of the Southern entrance to the delta of the Fly River (Papua).

Alphabet

17 Letters
- vowels: a, e, i, o, u (diphthongs are combinations of any two vowels, e.g. ai, au, oi, ou, ei, etc.)
- Consonants: k, g, t, s, d, n, r, p, b, m, v, h
- Semivowel: w/u, i/y /j/

Phonology

Consonants

::data[format=table]

Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal	Nasal	Plosive	voiceless	voiced	Fricative	Rhotic	Approximant



()

	()
::

/m/ can have allophones of [v, β] when in intervocalic positions.

[l] can be heard interchangeably with /ɾ/ in some dialects.

Vowels

::data[format=table]

Front	Central	Back	High	Mid	Low

~

::

/ɛ/ may also range to [e].

Grammar

Parts of speech

Parts of speech are associated with the standard European parts of speech, somewhat inelegantly. The three major parts of speech are Nominals, Verbs and Particles:

Nominals

Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns (Personal and Relative), Interrogative words, Nominal adverbs, Numerals

Nominals are declined for case (including the ergative).

Verbs

Verbs

Particles

Interrogative particles, Particle Adverbs, Postpositions, Interjections, Particle Conjunctions

Nouns

While most nouns in Kiwai are mono-morphemic, many are derived or compounds, such as verbal nouns, nominalised adjectives, attribute-category compounds, and so on. Reduplication also exists, usually creating an intensification of the core meaning, distributive effect, and so on.

Derivation is by prefixing and/or suffixing. For example, verbal nouns are created by prefixing k- to the verb word-base.

Adjectives

Like all other languages in the Torres Strait area as well as Torres Strait Creole, adjectives precede nouns. Various derived adjectives exist, such as Verbal Adjectives, Proprietive, Negative, Similative, and Assertative.

Interrogatives can be created using the Interrogative Prefix.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns indicate person and number (singular, dual, plural, trial), do not indicate gender, and are declined for case, including the ergative and genitive. The 1st person non-singular, unlike other languages in the area, does not distinguish inclusive and exclusive.

Verbs

Verbs are highly complex, consisting of a "verbal word-base" and various prefixes and suffixes, marking for tense, aspect, mood and cross-marking for subject and object. Verbal Word-Bases always begin and end with a vowel or a diphthong. It is the simplest form of a verb that is used in speech forms.

Syntax

Syntax is the arrangement of words in order to create a well-structured sentence. For the Kiwai language, there are principal rules for the positioning of words.

The subject precedes verb/predicate
The D.O (direct object) precedes the verb, which then follows the subject
The word that modifies the subject/object precedes
Numerals precede nouns
Sometimes the extensions of the predicate precede the verb
If time is involved, the indications of time will normally appear at the beginning of a sentence
Infinitive phrases will appear at the end of sentences
Particles will precede the verb

Number

Number can be indicated by verbal suffixes
Most nouns do not mark for number (few nouns have a separate plural form)

Gender

Kiwai is gender free; male and female is shown by specific terms when needed.

Dialects

There are six main dialects of this language.

Mawata-Daru-Tureture Kiwai
Southern Kiwai
from Parema north on the and neighbouring islands, includsing Kiwai Island.
Adopted as the standard language for mission purposes in the Delta (by the London Missionary Society)
Domori
an island in the Fly Delta northwest of Kiwai
Wabuda
an island between the Eastern mouth of the Fly and Bamu Delta
Sisiami
Village on the Dibiri branch of the Bamu Delta
Goaribari
Mouth of the Bamu Delta

While Kiwai dialects differ in terms of vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar, differences are minor.

Vocabulary

E. Baxter Riley had collected words to be added in the Kiwai-English vocabulary. A lot of the texts and translations have been modified and added by S.H.R.

Verbal Forms: Verbs will be placed under the simple form of the word-base, under the five vowels (a,e,i,o,u). Compounds are followed immediately after. However some of the compounds will be located only under some prefixes. These prefixes being: ar, em, emar, emow, er, erem, im, imar, imow, ir, irim, iriw, irow, iw, iwar, or, oror, ow, owar, and owor. The word-base will then be located by ignoring the following initial letters/syllables in words.

Evolution

Below are some reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea proposed by Pawley (2012). The dialect given is Island Kiwai, unless otherwise indicated.

:{| class="wikitable sortable" ! proto-Trans-New Guinea !! Kiwai (Island) |- | *tukumba[C] ‘short’ || (?) kopu |- | *takVn[V] ‘moon’ || sagana |- | *sumbu ‘white ashes’ || tuwo |- | *pi(n,nd)a ‘sister’ || abida |- | *niman ‘louse’ || nimo |- | *ni ‘1PL’ || ni(mo) |- | *mbena ‘arm’ || (Kerewo Kiwai bena ‘shoulder’) |- | *mb(i,u)t(i,u)C ‘fingernail’ || pitu |- | *maŋgat[a] ‘teeth, mouth’ || mangota, magata |- | *m(i,u)ndu ‘nose’ || wodi (Gope (N.E. Kiwai) modi) |- | *kV(mb,p)(i,u)t(i,u) ‘head’ || epuru, (Wabuda kepuru) |- | *kuk(a,u)m(o,u) ‘cold’ || (Bamu kukamu, Sisiame kukamo) |- | *ka(nd,t)(e,i)kV ‘ear’ || gare |- | *k(a,o]ndok[V] ‘foot’ || Gope (N.E. Kiwai) oto, Morigi kota |- | *inja ‘tree, wood, fire’ || (S. Kiwai era) |- | *amu ‘breast’ || amo |- | *a(mb,m)u ‘tail’ || (?) wapo |- | *(nd,s)umu(n,t)[V] ‘hair’ || (?) muso (metathesis?) |}

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_XeP9DxsKU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB3Co9ggY10
- 2 hour long film: "The Jesus Film"

References

Martin, Julia. (2016). "An acoustic study of Kope, Northeast Kiwai, Papua New Guinea, with preliminary tonal analysis". University of North Dakota.
Wurm, Stephen A.. (1973). "The Kiwaian Language Family". Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
Clifton, John. "Kiwai Organised Phonology Data". SIL.
Pawley, Andrew. (2012). "How reconstructable is proto Trans New Guinea? Problems, progress, prospects". Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.

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