Kunimaipa is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. The varieties are divergent, on the verge of being distinct languages, and have separate literary traditions.
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Each stem that ends with <u>a</u> has three kinds of allomorphs: <u>a</u>, <u>o</u>, and <u>e</u>. Allomorphs end with <u>a</u> in a word finally or before a syllable with <u>a</u>. It is the most common ending. <u>O</u> ending appears before syllables with <u>o</u>, <u>u</u>, or <u>ai</u>. <u>E</u> ending appears before syllable with <u>e</u> or <u>i</u>. All of above holds true, except the ending syllable before <u>-ma</u>. In the general morphophonemic rule, ending an appears before syllable with a. In the case of <u>-ma</u>, o appears before the syllable with a. For example, the sentence so-ma, meaning âÂÂI will go.âÂÂ
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Word classes that are usually not suffixed are responses, exclamations, attention particles, vocative particles, conjunctions, names, and particles. Responses are short replies on a conversation; such as, <u>kara</u> 'okay', <u>ee</u> 'yes', <u>gu</u> 'yes', <u>ev</u> 'no'. Exclamations is usually occurs on sentence boundary; such as, <u>auma</u> 'surprise', <u>au</u> 'mistake', <u>maize</u> 'regret', and <u>aip</u> 'dislike'. Attention particles are only used on reported speech; such as, <u>gui</u> 'call to come', <u>ae</u> 'attention getter', and <u>siu</u> 'attention getter -close'. Vocative particles are beginning of addresses in sentence boundary; such as, <u>engarim</u> 'hey, woman', <u>erom</u> 'hey, man', <u>engarohol</u> 'hey, children', and <u>guai</u> 'uncle'. Conjunctions are links in "phrases, clauses, and sentences"; such as, <u>mete</u> 'and, but, then', <u>ma</u> 'or, and', <u>povoza</u> 'therefore', and <u>ong</u> 'but, then'. Names label person, place, days, and months; such as, <u>made-ta-ka</u>, 'on Monday', and <u>pode-ta-ka, '</u>on Thursday'. Lastly, one particles that is used in introducing a quote is never suffixed, <u>pata</u> meaning 'reply'.
Word classes including adjectives, pronouns, interrogative words, nouns, and verbs can be suffixed or non-suffixed depending on the meaning and usage. Some example of adjectives in Kunimaipa are <u>tina</u> 'good', <u>goe</u> 'small', and <u>hori</u> 'bad'. The Kunimaipa language has 7 pronouns, including <u>ne</u>, <u>ni,</u> <u>pi</u>, <u>rei</u>, <u>rari</u>, <u>aru</u>, and <u>paru</u>. Example of od interrogative words are <u>taira</u> and <u>tai</u> meaning 'what'. Noun is a large word class including words such as <u>abana</u> 'men', <u>abanaro</u> 'young men', <u>no nai nai</u> 'everything', and <u>mapo</u> 'all'.
The word classes that cannot be classified by suffixation are locations, temporals, adverbs, and auxiliaries.