Ekari (also ''Ekagi'', ''Kapauku'', ''Mee'') is a
Trans–New Guinea language spoken by about 100,000 people in the
Paniai lakes region of the Indonesian province of
Papua, including the villages of
Enarotali,
Mapia
Mapia Atoll (Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Mapia''), historically known as the Freewill Islands or San David, is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean. It is located in Papua province of Indonesia, approximately 290 kilometers north of the city of Manokwar ...
and
Moanemani
Moanemani is a village in the Kamu district of the Dogiyai Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. It is located in the fertile Kamu Valley, a dry lake bed west of the Paniai lakes region. The indigenous residents are speakers of Mee. Moanemani is a ...
. This makes it the second-most populous
Papuan language
The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian and non- Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...
in Indonesian New Guinea after
Western Dani. Language use is vigorous. Documentation is quite limited.
Phonology
Consonants
The voiced velar stop (ɡᶫ) is pronounced with lateral release. Doble (1987) describes both /k/ and /ɡᶫ/ as being labialized
ʷ, ɡᶫʷafter the back vowels /o, u/ (i.e. ''okei'' 'they', ''euga'' 'more'), with ''g'' having 'varying' degrees of the lateral.
[ Staroverov & Tebay (2019) describe /ɡᶫ/ as being velar lateral �ᶫbefore front vowels and uvular non-lateral �ʶbefore non-front vowels. When lateral, there is usually a stop onset, but occasionally just �is heard.]
Vowels
Both Doble (1987) and Staroverov & Tebay (2019) describe five vowel qualities. Long vowels and diphthongs are analyzed as sequences.
Tone
Ekari has pitch accent. One syllable in a word may have a high tone, contrasting with words without a high tone. If the vowel is long or a diphthong and not at the end of the word, the high tone is phonetically rising.
CV words have no tone contrast. CVV words may be mid/low or high. (In all of these patterns, here and following, initial C is optional.)
Words of the following shapes may have a contrastive high tone on the final syllable: CVCV, CVCVV. Words of the following shapes may have either a rising or a falling tone on the first long syllable: CVVCV, CVVCVV, CVCVVCVV, CVVCVCV (rare), CVVCVCVV (rare). The following word shapes do not have contrastive tone: CVCVCV, CVCVVCV, CVCVCVV, and words of 4 or more syllables.
References
Bibliography
* Doble, Marion (1962). "Essays on Kapauku grammar". ''Nieuw Guinea Studiën''. 6: 152-5, 211-8, 279-98.
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External links
Materials on Ekari are included in the open access Arthur Capell
Arthur Capell (28 March 1902 – 10 August 1986) was an Australian linguist, who made major contributions to the study of Australian languages, Austronesian languages and Papuan languages.
Early life
Capell was born in Newtown, New South Wale ...
collections held by Paradisec
The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel- ...
:
AC1
AC2
{{West Trans–New Guinea languages
Paniai Lakes languages
Languages of western New Guinea