Labu (calledHapa by its speakers) is anAustronesian language ofPapua New Guinea.

Labu is spoken by 1,600 people (1989) in three older villages and one new one across theMarkham River fromLae inMorobe Province,Papua New Guinea. The three older villages are Labubutu (locally known as Dusuku) (6°45′08″S146°57′39″E / 6.752271°S 146.960701°E /-6.752271; 146.960701 (Labubutu)), Labumeti (Ehalo) (6°46′23″S146°57′21″E / 6.772936°S 146.955698°E /-6.772936; 146.955698 (Labumiti)), and Labutali (Kakala) (6°52′45″S146°57′04″E / 6.87921°S 146.951178°E /-6.87921; 146.951178 (Labutale)) inWampar Rural LLG.^[2][3]

Although it belongs to theLower Markham languages, Labu appears to have been strongly influenced by the coastal languages of theHuon Gulf,Bukawa in particular. For instance, Labu shows tonal contrasts, like Bukawa but unlike any of the Markham languages; and Labu numerals show separate forms for '3', '4', and '5', like Bukawa, even thoughsalu '2',sidi '3', andsôha '4' contain the Lower Markham numeral classifier *sV-. (The pattern for numerals in the other Markham languages is '1', '2', '2+1', '2+2', then 'hand' or '2+2+1', and so on.)

Labu distinguishes 7vowels and 17consonants. The vowels also exhibit contrasts between high and lowpitch (or "tone"), just as inYabêm, the Lutheran missionlingua franca for the coastal languages of Morobe Province during much of the 20th century. Theorthography of Labu is based on that of Yabêm (= Jabêm), except thaty replaces Yabêmj.

The vowels of some words in Labu are distinguished by lowered pitch, which is marked orthographically by a grave accent. Labu distinctions intone are thus based on register tone, not contour tone as inMandarin Chinese. Register tone contrasts are a relatively recent innovation of theNorth Huon Gulf languages, which many Labu speakers include in their linguistic repertoires, so one should not look back to voice contrasts in Proto-Oceanic (POc) or some other ancestral language to explain the origins of tone contrasts in Labu. Instead, one should look to areal influences, primarily from neighboringBukawa.

In Labu, there are two types of possessive noun phrases: thegenitive and thenominal (Siegel, 1984, p. 95).

The genitive possessivenoun phrase (PNP) conforms to the following structure:

PNP → NP1 (=possessor) POS (=possessive marker) NP2 (=possessed) (Siegel, 1984, p. 95)

If the possessor has already been established earlier in thediscourse and it is clear to both the speaker and listener, then the NP1 can be omitted from the possessive phrase (Siegel, 1984, p. 95). If the omitted NP1 is an inanimate object then the possessive markerêna is used (Siegel, 1984, p. 96).

Some examples of the genitive possessive noun phrase (taken from Siegel'sIntroduction of the Labu Language, p. 95-96) are as follows:

(a) ai yu-dumala kô yê na ana

I 1S.PT-look atyou 2S.POSmother

I saw your mother.

(b) amêna ŋatô salu le sê hanô nda mêna

man old two this 3P.POShouse stay village

These two old men's house was in the village.

(c) êmôha mô-kôna êna taiya mê-nda nôsôlô

we.XD 1X-look.at POStyre 1P-stay rubbish

We looked at its tyre in the rubbish dump.

Nominal possession

The nominal possessive phrase (PNP) conforms to the following structure:

PNP → NP1 (possessor) POSN (nominal possessive marker) (Siegel, 1984, p. 96)

When the thing being possessed is not explicitly stated within the phrase then the nominal possessive phrase is used (Siegel, 1984, p. 96). If the possessor has already been established earlier in the discourse then the NP1 can be omitted from a possessive phrase (Siegel, 1984, p. 97).

Some examples of the nominal possessive phrase (taken from Jeff Siegel'sIntroduction to the Labu Language, p. 96-97) are as follows:

(a) ini gwê yê nôôna

he (3S.PT-)take you 2S.POSN

He took yours.

(b) tawala lene hanô lênê nêêna

door this house that 3S.POSN

This door is that house's.

(c) ai ya-gwê ndêêna

I 1S.PT-take 1S.POSN

I took mine.

Labudeictics correlate with first, second, and third person, the first two of which have long and short forms. The third person singular free pronoun can also take deicticsuffixes:ini-ne 'this/these one(s)',ini-lê 'that/those one(s)'. Deictics may occur either in place of nouns or postposed to nouns, as inhanô lene 'that house'.

• le(ne) 'near speaker'
• lê(nê) 'near addressee'
• laê 'away from speaker or addressee'

Traditional Labu counting practices started with the digits of one hand, then continued on the other hand, and then the feet to reach '20', which translates as 'one person'. Higher numbers are multiples of 'one person'. Nowadays, most counting above '5' is done in Tok Pisin.

Like most of the coastal languages around the Huon Gulf, Labu has a system of birth-order names.

In order to express negation within simple sentences in Labu, either a dubitative (DUB) or a potential (POT)modal must be used in order to begin thepredicate, with the negative marker-ki used to end the sentence.

Labu has three different forms of this negative marker, which are:

• naki
• ŋaki
• ki

The negative marker of -ki is derived from a verb stem, which explains why it uses the third person prefixesna- andŋa-, which only otherwise attach to verbs. Despite deriving from a verb stem, becauseki cannot stand alone within a verb phrase (VP), it cannot be classified as a verb.

The three forms of the negative marker, depending on the prefixes attached, are used in varying circumstances, dependent on the tense and mood of the utterance.

Naki is the negative marker used with theirrealis mood, specificallydubitative andimperative sentences. Examples of each are as follows (Siegel, 1984, p. 111-112):

The negative marker ŋaki is used in therealis mood, when declaring a statement of fact, as long as it is not past tense. This means that it is used for present andhabitual events. An example of this marker in use can be seen in the following sentence (Siegel, 1984, p. 111):

Ki is used to mark negation in sentences that utilise the past tense, meaning that it is used for events that have already occurred. An example is (Siegel, 1984, p. 111-112):

As well as the use of the negative marker -ki in its various forms, Labu also has verbs which are inherently negative. These are the verbs -le to not want, or -ya pale to not know. As with other verbs within Labu, prefixes are added to the verb to signal number and tense. Examples are as follows (Siegel, 1984, p. 122):

• Anon. (2004). Labu organized phonology data. Summer Institute of Linguistics.[1]
• Siegel, Jeff (1984). "Introduction to the Labu language." In Malcolm Ross, Jeff Siegel,Robert Blust, Michael A. Colburn, W. Seiler,Papers in New Guinea Linguistics, No. 23, 83-159. Series A-69. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
• Ross, Malcolm (1988).Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian languages of western Melanesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

• Markham languages
• Languages of Morobe Province

• Language articles citing Ethnologue 25
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Language articles with unknown population not citing Ethnologue 18
• Language articles with speakers set to 'unknown'
• Lists of coordinates
• Geographic coordinate lists
• Articles with Geo
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas