Musom Language

Musom is an Austronesian language spoken in the single village of Musom () in Labuta Rural LLG, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The other name for Musom is Misatik, given by the older generations because this was the name of the village that the ancestors settled on. Musom is currently an endangered language due to the fact that native Musom speakers are continuing to marry other language speakers. Musom is also endangered because of its change in grammar and vocabulary due to its bi- and multilingualism. In the Musom village, other languages that Musom speakers may speak are Aribwuang and Duwet. In the Gwabadik village, because of intermarriages other languages that Musom speakers may speak are Nabak and Mesem.

Phonology

In Musom, voiceless, voiced and prenasalised voice are the only series of stops when it comes to consonants. For Musom consonants, if there is a prenasalised voice stop, the vowel is then seen after it and is can be as nasal only. Allophones are contained in the prenasalised voiced affricated alveolar stop /ndz/ which occurs initially, medially, and then tsoccurs finally.

For the consonants, /w, kw, gw/ they do not occur initially, medially and finally, but all other consonants do. Other consonants that do not occur finally are /d, g, ndz/. When the word ends in with a consonant and the next word also begins with a consonant, a prothetic ''a'' is put in between the words. For the consonant /r/, it contains two allophones and but only in free variation.

When Musom is compared to Yabim, there are claims that infer that Musom may have a 7-vowel system.

Syllable Structure

Musom language has a syllable structure of (C) V (C) (V) (C).

Morphophonemics

In Musom language, if a speaker were to talk fast, /u/ could be heard as Some examples that could be heard are:

* ''num >'' imdrink
* ''wutsin .'' itsininside

If a subject pronoun prefix that contains a vowel, comes before the root that is within a vowel (verb root), the verb root changes according to what came before it. Some examples are:

* ''mbidi'' stand up
''a-mbidi'' 1st person subject > ''u-mbudi'' 2nd person subject

''i-mbidi'' 3rd person subject

* ''mbitsi'' cook on fire

''a-mbitsi'' 1st person subject > ''u-mbutsi'' 2nd person subject

''i-imbitsi'' 3rd person subject

Words that contain multiple syllables, those syllables could be dropped or centralized. A vowel turns into schwa �in the unstressed syllable. Here is an example:

* '''apun'' completive particle > apm~ apəm

Pronouns

Focal pronouns are able to be used as subjects and objects of verbs. Prepositions only occur with objects of verbs. Focal pronouns are also found in a possessive phrase. For 1st singular, short form only occurs when ''wir'' is switched for ''u'' or ''ur.''

Interrogative pronouns can be seen with who and what. In Musom, who and what can be used with two different pronouns. Those two different pronouns are:

* ''asa'' "who"
* ''sira'' "what"

Some examples of these two pronouns are:

* ''in asa?'' Who is he?
''Rak anu sira?'' What is that there?

''Asa ngaing gi-its ingg?'' Who hit you? (lit. Which man hit you?)

Both reflexive and emphatic pronouns both mean Pronoun + self. This table shows the reflexive and emphatic pronouns:

Possession

The first type of possession in Musom has inalienable nouns. Some examples of these inalienable nouns are kin terms, body parts, name, namesake, friend or trade partner.

The second type of possession in Musom is Alienable possession. The second type of possession holds all the nouns that are not in the first type. The possessive phrase can contain noun or pronoun possession, and prothetic ''a''. Then there is a noun that is not attributed to the possessive markers which is the noun possessed. Here are some examples:

* ''wir a om'' my house

''ingg a mimin'' your betelnut

''in a tahung'' his smoke

''is a kom/kom a is en'' their dog

Sentence Structure

Coordination

In the Musom language, sentences can be formed by using conjunctions such as ''da'' 'and, but' and ''ma'' 'or'. One example using ''da'' is:

* ''Tse g-a-k g-a-bitsi ung da g-a-hur''

weEXC P-SPP1-go P-SPP1-cook breadfruit and P-SPP1-fish

We cooked breadfruit and fished (for crayfish) in the river.

One example using ''ma'' is:

* ''Ingg ng-u-ak Madang ma ingg ng-u-ak''

youSG IRR-SPP2-go Madang or youSG IRR-SPP2-go

You can go to Madang or you can go to Ramu.

Conditional

The Musom language when using conditional sentences can be found in the form of:

''da'' + Subject 1 + ''ng''-SPP-V ''da'' + Subject 2 ''bo-ng-''SPP-V

An example using a conditional sentence is:

* ''Da amik ng-i-ruk wir bo-ng-a-bum omb.''

and rain IRR-SPP3-fall I FUT-IRR-SPP1-stay village

If it rains I will stay in the village

References

*Wurm, S.A. editor. ''Some Endangered Languages of Papua New Guinea: Kaki Ae, Musom, and Aribwatsa''. D-89, vi + 183 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1997.

{{Languages of Papua New Guinea

Definitely endangered languages
Markham languages
Languages of Morobe Province