Ambai
Native toIndonesia
RegionAmbai Islands
Native speakers
10,100 (2000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3amk
Glottologamba1265

The Ambai language is an Austronesian language spoken in Indonesian New Guinea (Papua Province), mostly on the Ambai Islands as well as the southern part of Yapen Island.[2] The number of speakers is estimated to be 10,000. Dialects are Randawaya, Ambai (Wadapi-Laut), and Manawi.[3]

Phonology

Ambai has 19 consonants and 6 vowels, shown on the tables below.

Consonants
BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarLaryngeal
Plosive p  bt  dk  ɡ
Nasal mnŋ
Trill r
Fricative ɸsç  ʝħ/h
Approximant wj
Vowels
FrontCentralBack
Close iu
Mid ɛəɔ
Open a

Morphology

Pronouns

All pronouns in Ambai mark for number, person and clusivity (in first person).

The following bound pronouns are obligatorily added as affixes to the verb to stand as the subject of the sentence. Every verb in Ambai takes a subject, even if it is a 'dummy' third-person pronoun.

Bound Pronouns
Singular Dual Trial Plural
1st person exclusive i-/dj- au(r)- anto(r)- ame(r)-
inclusive tu(r)- to(r)- ta(r)-
2nd person b- mu(r)- munto(r)- me(r)-
3rd person d- u(r)- co(r)- e(r)-

The following pronouns are independent and are more restricted in use. They do not appear as subjects – since the subject is marked already on the verb – but can appear as objects, in prepositional phrases and in subordinate clauses. Some verbs allow the object pronoun to be omitted.

Free Pronouns
Singular Dual Trial Plural
1st person exclusive jau auru antoru amea
inclusive turu totoro tata
2nd person wau muru muntoro mea
3rd person i uru coru ea

Examples of pronouns used in everyday language:

(1)

b-oti

2SG-see

suru

3DU.OBJ

b-oti suru

2SG-see 3DU.OBJ

'Look at them (two).'

(2)

uru

3DU

u-minohi

3DU-sit

uru u-minohi

3DU 3DU-sit

'They sit.'

References

  1. ↑ Ambai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ "AMBAI" (PDF). PapuaWeb. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
  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.

Further reading

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