- Kuot language
Infobox Language
name=Kuot, Kuat, Panaris
states=Papua New Guinea
region=New Ireland
speakers=2000-3000
iso3=kto
familycolor=language isolate
family=Language isolate
script=Latin
notice=nonoticeThe Kuot language, or Panaras, is alanguage isolate , the only non-Austronesian language spoken on the island of New Ireland,Papua New Guinea . There are about 2400 speakers, concentrated primarily on the northwest coast of the island. Perhaps due to the small speaker base, there are no significant dialects present within Kuot. [Chung, Chul-Hwa & Chung, Kyung-Ja, [http://www.sil.org/pacific/png/abstract.asp?id=37101 Kuot Grammar Essentials] , 1993:p1]Grammar
The language uses a VSO word order, similar to Irish and Welsh [ [http://www.ling.su.se/staff/evali/kuot.htm Kuot Language and Culture] , Eva Lindström, retrieved May 27, 2007] . The morphology of the language is primarily agglutinative. There are two grammatical genders, male and female, and distinction is made in the first-person between singular, dual, and plural, as well as between exclusive and inclusive.
For instance, the sentence " _kt. "parak-oŋ ira-ruaŋ kamin"" literally means "my father eats sweet potato". " Parak-oŋ" is a
continuous verb meaning "to eat", "ira" means "father", "-ruaŋ" is a suffix used to indicate possession ("my father"), and "kamin" is a simple noun meaning "sweet potato ".Morphology
There are a number of morphological alternations in the Kuot language:
't' to 'r' alternation
The sound "t" in certain possessive markers, such as "-tuaŋ", "-tuŋ" and "-tuo" becomes an "r" sound when it comes after a word ending in a vowel. Compare:
* "ira-ruaŋ" - my father
* "luguan-tuaŋ" - my house
* "i'rama-ruo" - my eye
* "nebam-tuaŋ" - my featherVowel shortening
Where the third person singular masculine suffix "-on" is used on a noun that ends with a vowel, this vowel is typically not pronounced. For instance, "amaŋa-on" is pronounced "IPA|a'maŋɔŋ", not "IPA|a'maŋaɔŋ"
See also
*
East Papuan languages References
External links
* [http://www.ling.su.se/staff/evali/swadesh100-Kuot.html Kuot Swadesh 100 Word List]
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