Kâte language
Kâte is a Papuan language spoken by about 6,000 people in the Finschhafen District of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. It is part of the Finisterre–Huon branch of the Trans–New Guinea language family. It was adopted for teaching and mission work among speakers of Papuan languages by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea in the early 1900s and at one time had as many as 80,000 second-language speakers.
Dialects
The name Kâte means 'forest', an epithet for the inlanders on the tip of the Huon peninsula, excepting the people living along the Mape River. The coastal people to the south, mostly speaking Jabêm, are called Hâwec 'sea' and those to the north, speaking Momare and Migabac, are called Sopâc 'grass'. These were geographical rather than language names. The indigenous glossonyms referred to smaller linguistics units that can be called dialects. McElhanon identifies five dialects at the time of earliest mission contact in 1886, each named according to how they pronounce a common word or phrase.- Wana, the southernmost dialect
- Wamorâ
- Mâgobineng or Bamotâ, nearly extinct in 1974
- Parec, already extinct by 1974
- Wemo or Wena, adopted as the mission lingua franca
Phonology
Vowels (orthographic)
Kâte distinguishes six vowels. The low back vowel â sounds like the vowel of English law or saw. Length is not distinctive.| Front | Back | |
| High | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Low | a | â |
Consonants (orthographic)
The glottal stop, written -c, only occurs after a vowel and Pilhofer first describes it as a vowel feature that distinguishes, for instance, bo 'sugarcane' from boc 'very' and si 'planting' from sic 'broth'. However, McElhanon notes that final glottal stop is barely phonemic in the Wemo dialect, but corresponds to a wider variety of syllable-final consonants in Western Huon languages, which are neutralized in the Eastern Huon languages, including Kâte. Pilhofer writes the lateral flap with an l, but Schneuker and Flierl and Strauss write it with an r.The fricatives f and w are both labiodentals, according to Pilhofer, but bilabials, according to Flierl and Strauss. Alveopalatal z and ʒ are affricates, and respectively, but they otherwise pattern like the stops, except that z only occurs between vowels, while ʒ occurs morpheme-initially. Both Pilhofer and Flierl and Strauss describe the labiovelars q and ɋ as coarticulated and simultaneously released and , respectively.
| Labial | Labiovelar | Dental | Alveopalatal | Velar | Glottal | |
| Voiceless stop | p | q | t | -z- | k | -c |
| Voiced stop | b | ɋ | d | ʒ | g | |
| Prenasalized | mb | ŋɋ | nd | nʒ | ŋg | |
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Voiceless fricative | f | s | h | |||
| Voiced fricative | w | |||||
| Liquid | r | |||||
| Approximant | j |
Morphology
Pronouns
Free pronouns
Unlike pronouns in most Papuan languages, Kâte free pronouns distinguish inclusive and exclusive in the 1st person, presumably due to Austronesian influence. However, this distinction is not maintained in pronominal affixes. The table of free pronouns is from Pilhofer. Personal pronouns are only used to refer to animate beings. Demonstratives are used to refer to inanimates.Like nouns, free pronouns can occur in subject or object positions in clauses, although the longer form of the singular pronouns can only occur in subject position. Like nouns, free pronouns can also occur with directional affixes and case-marking postpositions, as in no-raonec 'from me'. go-raopec 'toward you', nâhe-hec 'with him and me', jaŋe tâmiric 'without them'. The forms in parentheses ending in -c are "emphatic pronouns" and can be added to regular pronouns, as in go gahac 'you yourself' or jahe jahac 'they themselves'.
The free pronouns can also be appended to nouns to indicate number, as in ŋic jaŋe 'the men' and qaqazu nâŋe 'we teachers'; definiteness, as in ŋokac e 'the woman'; or person, as in qaqazu-ge no 'me your teacher'. A free pronoun coreferent with the head noun frequently marks the end of a relative clause and the resumption of the matrix sentence, as in ŋic monda-o ware-wec e ʒira mi fo-wec 'the man who came on Monday did not stay here'.
| Free pronouns | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person inclusive | nâhâc | nâŋâc | |
| 1st person exclusive | no | nâhe | nâŋe |
| 2nd person | go | ŋohe | ŋoŋe |
| 3rd person | e | jahe | jaŋe |
Genitive pronouns
Kâte has two types pronominal genitives: possessive suffixes on nouns, and preposed free pronouns suffixed with -re after final vowels or -ne after forms ending in -c . The latter suffix resembles the invariable -ne that turns nouns into adjectives, as in opâ 'water' > opâ-ne 'watery', hulili 'rainbow' > hulili-ne 'rainbow-colored', hâmoc 'death' > hâmoc-ne 'dead', or fiuc 'theft' > fiuc-ne 'thievish'. Examples of preposed possessive pronouns include no-re fic 'my house'; no nahac-ne fic 'my very own house'; e-re hâmu 'his/her coconut palm'; jaŋe-re wiak 'their concern/matter'.Direct object suffixes
Direct object suffixes come between verb stems and the subject-marking suffixes. Simple vowel-final verb stems are obligatorily affixed with -c before accusative suffixes, except when the 3rd person singular object suffix is zero. Compare mamac-zi hone-c-gu-wec 'father saw me' vs. mamac-zi hone-wec 'father saw him/her'.| Accusative suffixes | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | -nu- | -nâfo- | -nâpo- |
| 2nd person | -gu- | -ŋofa- | -ŋopa- |
| 3rd person | - - | -jofa- | -jopa- |
- Naru e ŋokac jajahec bafi-c-jofa-wec.
- 'The girl helped two women.'
Indirect object suffixes
| Dative suffixes | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | -nare- | -nâcte- | -nâre- |
| 2nd person | -gare- | -ŋacte- | -ŋare- |
| 3rd person | -cne- | -jacte- | -jare- |
- Neŋgoc-ge-zi nânâ ba-ware-gare-wec me?
- Did your mother bring you some food?'
Verb morphology
Final (independent) verbs
Each finite independent verb is suffixed to show tense and the grammatical person of the subject. There are five tense forms: present, near past, far past, near future, and far future. Animate subjects are marked for three persons and three numbers, although the same suffixes are used for both 2nd and 3rd person dual and plural. Inanimate subjects are only marked as 3rd person singular. Durative aspect can be conveyed by adding -e- before the present tense marker or -ju- before the near past tense marker. Two hortative moods can be signaled by subtracting final -mu from the near future tense suffix or substituting a different but similar set of final subject markers.| Present tense | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | -kopac | -koperec | -ŋgopeneŋ |
| 2nd person | -komec/-kic | -kopirec | -ŋgopieŋ |
| 3rd person | -kac | -kopirec | -ŋgopieŋ |
| Far past tense | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | -po | -pec | -mbeŋ |
| 2nd person | -meŋ | -pic | -mbiŋ |
| 3rd person | -wec | -pic | -mbiŋ |
| Far future tense | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | -zo-kopac | -zo-koperec | -nʒo-ŋgopeneŋ |
| 2nd person | -zo-komec/-zo-kic | -zo-kopirec | -nʒo-ŋgopieŋ |
| 3rd person | -zo-kac | -zo-kopirec | -nʒo-ŋgopieŋ |
Medial (dependent) verbs
Kâte displays canonical switch-reference verb morphology. Coordinate-dependent verbs are not marked for tense, but only for whether their actions are sequential, simultaneous, or durative in relation to the next verb in the SR clause chain. If the subject is the same as that of the next verb, its person and number is not marked. Verbs are suffixed for person and number only when their subject changes. One dependent verb may be marked for both Durative and Simultaneous if its duration is extended enough to overlap with the beginning of the event described by the next clause. The examples come from Schneuker.| Same-subject suffixes | |
| Sequential | -râ |
| Simultaneous | -huc |
| Durative | -ku |
- Hata-o ra-huc homa moc hone-po.
- 'Going along the road I saw a snake.'
| Sequential subject-change | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | -pe | -pere | -pene |
| 2nd person | -te | -pire | -pie |
| 3rd person | -me | -pire | -pie |
- Hoe he-me gie behe-mbeneŋ.
- 'We quit work when it rained.'
| Simultaneous subject-change | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | -ha-pe | -ha-pere | -ha-pene |
| 2nd person | -ha-tec | -ha-pire | -ha-pie |
| 3rd person | -ha-me | -ha-pire | -ha-pie |
- Go gie-o ju-haŋ-tec neŋgoc-ge-zi ware-jec.
- 'Your mother came while you were at work.'
| Durative subject-change | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | -ku-pe | -ku-pere | -ku-pene |
| 2nd person | -ku-te | -ku-pire | -ku-pie |
| 3rd person | -ku-me | -ku-pire | -ku-pie |
- Hoe he-ku-me hata sâqore-wec.
- 'It rained a long time and the road became a mess.'
| Durative/Simultaneous subject-change | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st person | -ku-ha-pe | -ku-ha-pere | -ku-ha-pene |
| 2nd person | -ku-ha-te | -ku-ha-pire | -ku-ha-pie |
| 3rd person | -ku-ha-me | -ku-ha-pire | -ku-ha-pie |
- Woŋec ŋe-ku-ha-pe fisi-mbiŋ.
- 'After I had been waiting a long time, he appeared.'
Other verbal affixes
Adverbial affixes
A small class of adverbial intensifying affixes can be added before final inflectional suffixes. Examples include -fâre- 'all, together'; -jâmbâŋke- 'truly'; -hâmo- 'well, thoroughly'; saricke- 'well, skillfully'; sanaŋke- 'firmly, permanently'; -ipie- 'futilely, in vain'. Sentence examples from Schneuker follow.- No motec jaza-fâre-pac 'I told all the boys.'
- Motec jaŋe mamasiri e-jâmbâŋke-mbiŋ 'The boys really played.'
- Nânâ mi ʒâ-hâmo-kac 'The food isn't cooked thoroughly.'
- Fic kecʒi-zi ŋe-sanaŋke-ocmu 'This house will last forever.'
- Soŋaŋ-zi dâŋ mu-ipie-wec 'The elder spoke in vain.'
Evolution
| proto-Trans-New Guinea | Kâte |
| *ma- ‘NEG clitic’ | mi |
| *masi ‘orphan’ | mɔsiŋ |
| *mee ‘tongue’ | meŋ |
| *mundun ‘internal organs’ | munduŋ ‘egg’ |
| *mVV + t- ‘vomit’ | maŋuzo |
| *elak ‘light, lightning’ | bɔriʔ ‘glitter, flash of lightning, etc.’ |
| *amu ‘breast’ | ameʔ |
| *umuV ‘hair’ | tsiminuŋ ‘stiff coarse hair’ |
| *kumV- ‘die’ | hɔmozo |
| *niman ‘louse’ | imeŋ |
| *na ‘1SG’ | no |
| *na- ‘eat’ | nɔ- |
| *ni ‘1PL’ | ne ‘1PL’, ne ‘2DL’ |
| *kanne ‘left ’ | kpana |
| *mundun ‘internal organs’ | munduŋ ‘egg’ |
| *iman ‘louse’ | imeŋ |
| *mbalaŋ ‘flame’ | bɔruŋ |
| *mbtC ‘fingernail’ | butoŋ |
| *mbeŋga ‘orphan’ | bekɔ ‘widow and child’ |
| *sambV ‘cloud’ | sambɔŋ ‘sky’ |
| *mbena ‘arm’ | me |
| *ututu- ‘to fly’ | fururuʔ |
| *siat ‘saliva’ | tofeʔ |
| *tVk- ‘cut, cut off’ | tɔʔ |
| *a- ‘take’ | lomedial |
| *mundun ‘internal organs’ | munduŋ ‘inner yolk of egg’ |
| *atata ‘dry’ | kereŋke |
| *sambV ‘cloud’ | sambɔŋ ‘sky’ |
| *masi ‘widow’ | masiŋ |
| *siat ‘saliva’ | tofeʔ |
| *ŋga ‘2SG’ | go |
| *mbeŋga ‘orphan’ | bekɔ ‘widow and child’ |
| *kumV- ‘die’ | hɔmo |
| *kana ‘stone’ | kpana |
| *kVt ‘head’ | kpit |
| *elak ‘light, lightning’ | bɔriʔ ‘glitter, flash of lightning, etc.’ |