Dialects Of The Tairora Language Of The Eastern Highlands Of Papua New Guinea

DIALECTS OF THE TAIRORA LANGUAGE OF THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA Alex Vincent This Tairora Dialect Survey is in three Sections: Section One: Introduction and word lists, 95 pages Section Two: Tairora Dialect Constructions with Examples, 24 Pages Section Three: Tairora Dialect Verb Paradigms and Pronouns, 43 Pages   DIALECT SURVEY The author began study of the Tairora language in 1957 under the auspices of the Summer Institute of Lingustics (S.I.L.). In the early years a basic list of 150 words was collected from various Tairora villages and these proved useful in determining dialect boundaries. Later on lists of pronoun forms and verb paradigms were also elicited. Subsequently, it was decided to make a more extensive investigation so that alphabets could be devised and material translated into the different dialects. For this purpose a list of over 1,100 words was drawn up. Words were included in the list for a variety of reasons. Some because they would be easy to elicit, others because they would be useful for comparison purposes. As many verb paradigms as practicable were also elicited. Sentences that were likely to illustrate key grammar constructions were recorded from each area. It was found helpful to bring in pairs of language helpers from the different areas to the S.I.L. centre at Ukarumpa to work with, rather than to elicit from folk while in a village situation. On an average it took two weeks to elicit the bulk of the information. All the language helpers could be described as unsophisticated, but all caught on surprisingly well during the two-week period and were particularly helpful with the paradigmatic material. Language helpers were brought in from the villages of Obura (Omwunra), To'ukena (Toqukyena/Toqura), Habina (Haaviqinra), Konkompira and Meauna (Veqaura). Later more extensive work was done in the Obura dialect and in the 1970s a number of visits were made to Pinata (Vinaata) the longest of which was three weeks. The significant sounds (phonemes) of the Northern Tairora dialect are given with approximate sound equivalents in Australian English where possible. Some significant sounds are written with a digraph. n (as in English) a as in but nk as in sink aa as in father nt as in denture ai as in iron o as in corn au as in over p as in pat e as in error q represents glottal stop h (as in English) r is a single flapped ř i as in beet s (as in English) k as in kick t (as in English) ky is a palatalized k u as in boot m (as in English) v is a v made with the two lips instead of mp as in hemp top teeth and bottom lip coming together In addition to the above sounds, the following sounds occur in all Southern dialects: nr a nasalized flapped ř mw a nasalized v made with relaxed lips (nasalized bilabial v ) In the Konkompira/Vinaata dialect: ky a palatalized k ny a palatalized n æ as in cat ty a palatalized t nty a palatalized nt In the Omwunra/Toqura dialect: ng as in singing ky a palatalized k nky a palatalized nk ny a palatalized n 1   Features that distinguish the Northern and Southern Dialects (A) The Tairora dialects can be divided into two main groups, North and South, on the basis of distinctions made in the verb. The Northern dialects disti