Monumbo language

Monumbo is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. There is an early description in German. It is closely related to Lilau.

Phonology

Mambuwan consonants are:

Mambuwan vowels are:

Grammar

Monumbo distinguishes five gender classes for singular and dual third-person pronouns, but only two gender classes (masculine and feminine) for third-person plural pronouns, a typologically unusual feature. There are five genders for the third-person pronoun, which are masculine, feminine, neutral, diminutive, and miscellaneous genders.

Mambuwan subject agreement prefixes are:

Mambuwan has a general oblique case marker –unum ~ -Cusum for nouns:

Mambuwan also makes use of postpositions such as ŋaŋ ‘inside’:

Mambuwan has highly complex verbal inflection.

Nouns

Some Mambuwan nouns and their respective plural forms:

References