Telefol language

Telefol
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Sandaun Province, Telefomin District
Ethnicity	Telefol people
Native speakers	(5,400 cited 1994)
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Central & South New Guinea ? Ok Mountain Telefol
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tlf
Glottolog	tele1256
ELP	Template:Endangered Languages Project
Linguasphere	Template:Infobox language/lingualist
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Telefol is a language spoken by the Telefol people in Papua New Guinea, notable for possessing a base-27 numeral system.

History

The Iligimin people also spoke Telefol, but they were defeated by the Telefol proper.

Orthography

Telefol alphabet

Phonemic
Lowercase	a	aa	e	e	i	ii	o	o	u	uu	b, p	d, g	f	k, g	kw	l	m	n	ng	s	t	w	y
Uppercase	A	Aa	E		I	Ii	O		U	Uu	B	D	F	K	Kw		M	N		S	T	W	Y

Single ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ represent both their single and long vowels, since they rarely contrast.

is written ⟨p⟩ pre-consonantally and word-finally.

Single is written ⟨g⟩ intervocalically, and is written ⟨k⟩ intervocalically.

and are written ⟨kg⟩ and ⟨ngg⟩ (since they're pronounced and respectively).

Initial is also written with ⟨g⟩ in loan words, e.g., 'God'.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	(Glottal)
Nasal	m	n̪			ŋ
Plosive	(p) b	t̪ d̪			k kʷ (ɡ)	(ʔ)
Fricative	f	s̪				(h)
Lateral			l
Semivowel	w			j

and only appear in a few particles and some exclamations. and only appear in a few loans.

Allophones

Phoneme(s)	Condition	Allophone
	intervocalic
	syllable-final
	free-variation
	intervocalic
	intervocalic
	(everywhere)
	(everywhere)

Vowels

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Open		ɑ ɑː

There are two contrastive phonemic tones in Telefol, high and low. For example, 'club' vs. 'planted'.

and , and , are nearly in complementary distribution. Also, single and don't occur in one-syllable words or in terminal syllables.

Vowel length only contrasts in initial syllables. However, in initial syllables single and , and and , don't contrast.

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is (C)V(ː)(C).

does not occur word-initially.

is allowed in medial, but not word-initial, onsets.

Grammar

Telefol is a subject–object–verb language.

Verbal aspect

Telefol has a rich aspectual system. Telefol verbs have "punctiliar" (momentary/completed) and "continuative" stems.

Counting system

Telefol uses a base-27 counting system. This is mapped onto the body by counting each of the following: the left pinky to the left thumb (1–5); the wrist, lower arm, elbow, upper arm, and shoulder (6–10); the side of the neck, ear, and left eye (11–13); the nose (14); and similarly on the right side in reverse order, from the right eye to the right pinky (15–27).

Kinship

Telefol has dyadic kinship terms (terms referring to the relationship two or more people have to each other), which are uncommon in the world's languages and not prevalent in Papua New Guinea. However, they are a salient feature of the Ok languages. Related terms are found in Oksapmin, Mian, and Tifal.

Evolution

Below are some reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea proposed by Pawley (2012):

proto-Trans-New Guinea	Telefol
*m(o,u)k ‘milk, sap, breast’	müük, mɔk ‘spittle’
*maŋgat[a] ‘teeth, mouth’	(Faiwol makat-kalim ‘whiskers’)
*maŋgV ‘compact round object’	magap ‘round object, fruit, seed, etc’’
*m(i,u)ndu ‘nose’	mutu ‘nose’
*k(o,u)ma(n,ŋ)[V] ‘neck, nape’	kum ‘left side of neck’
*kumut, *tumuk ‘thunder’	tumuun ‘thunder’
*niman ‘louse’	tim ‘louse’
*kal(a,i)m ‘moon’	kaliim ‘moon’
*k(i,u)tuma ‘night, morning’	kutim ‘morning’
*na ‘1SG’	na-
*ni, *nu ‘1PL’	nu
*mbena ‘arm’	ban ‘forearm’
*[w]ani ‘who?’	wan(tap), waan(ta) ‘who?’
*pVnum ‘wind’	inim
*kinV ‘shoulder’	tiŋ (Faiwal kiiŋ)
*mbilaŋ ‘tongue’	fɔŋ (cf. Faiwol falaŋ, Tifal filaŋ)
*mbena ‘arm’	ban ‘forearm’
*amba ‘sibling’	baab
*(kambu)-sumbu ‘ashes’	(ku)-tab
*mbilaŋ ‘tongue’	foŋ (Tifal filaŋ)
*(mb,p)ututu- ‘to fly’	(?) fúlúluú (+ V.)
*pVnum ‘wind’	(?) inim
*m(i,u)ndu ‘nose’	mutuum
*kumut, *tumuk ‘thunder’	tumuun
*k(i,u)tuma ‘night, morning’	kutim
*ŋgatu(k,n) ‘knee’	katuun
*k(a,e)(nd,t)ak ‘neck’	ditak (Faiwal getak)
*saŋ ‘story, song’	saŋ ‘myth, story’
*sumbu ‘ashes’	(ku-)tab
*maŋgV ‘compact round object’	(úún) makáb ‘egg’
*maŋgat[a] ‘teeth, mouth’	(Faiwal makat-kalim ‘whiskers (lit. chin-hair)’)
*kal(a,i)m ‘moon’	kaliim
*k(o,u)ma(n,ŋ)[V] ‘neck, nape’	kum ‘left side of neck’
*k(o,u)ndVC ‘bone’	kun
*kutV(mb,p)(a,u)[C] ‘long’	(Kati M. kudub)
*kinV ‘shoulder’	tiŋ-
*m(o,u)k ‘milk, sap, breast’	múúk
*ok[V] ‘water’	óók
*(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu ‘skin, bark’	káál
*kal(a,i)m ‘moon’	*kaliim

See also

• Ok languages

Bibliography

• Foley, William A. (1986). The Papuan Languages of New Guinea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28621-2. OCLC 13004531.
• Healey, Alan (September 1992). "Telefol Organised Phonology Data" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2012.
• Healey, Alan (1974). "A problem of Telefol verb classification". In Loving, Richard (ed.). Studies in languages of the Ok family. Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages. Vol. 7. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 167–175.
• Healey, Alan (1964). Telefol phonology. Pacific Linguistics, Series B. Vol. 3. Canberra: Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-B3.

External links

• Telefol on globalrecordings.net
• WALS - Telefol
• PNG Language Resources: Telefol information
• Paradisec has a number of collections that include Telefol language materials.