| Tami | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Morobe Province |
Native speakers | 2,100 (2010)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tmy |
| Glottolog | tami1290 |
Tami is anAustronesian language on the Tami Islands and in a few villages at the tip of theHuon Peninsula inMorobe Province,Papua New Guinea. It is not closely related to the otherHuon Gulf languages, but like otherNorth New Guinea languages in Morobe Province, its basicword order issubject–verb–object (SVO).
Tami distinguishes five vowels (i, e, a, o, u) and the following consonants (Colich 1995). Voiced obstruents do not occur in syllable-final position, while glottal stop only occurs at the end of a syllable.
| Bilabial | Labiovelar | Dental | Alveopalatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless | p | pw | t | k | -c[ʔ] | |
| Voiced | b | bw | d | j[d͡ʒ] | g | |
| Prenasalized | mb | mbw | nd | nj | ŋg | |
| Nasal | m | mw | n | ŋ | ||
| Fricative | v[β] | s | ||||
| Liquid | l | |||||
| Approximant | w | y |
Traditional Tami counting practices begin with the fingers of the hands, then continue on the feet to reach twenty, which translates as 'whole person'. Higher numbers are multiples of 'whole person'. Nowadays, most counting above five is done inTok Pisin. An alternate form of the numeral 'one',dan, functions as an indefinite article. Distributive numerals are formed viareduplication:lualu 'two by two',tolatol 'three by three' and so forth (Bamler 1900:204).
| Numeral | Term | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | te | 'one' |
| 2 | lu | 'two' |
| 3 | tol | 'three' |
| 4 | pat | 'four' |
| 5 | lim | 'five, hand' |
| 6 | lim ma te | 'hand and one' |
| 7 | lima ma lu | 'hand and two' |
| 8 | lima ma tol | 'hand and three' |
| 9 | lim ma pat | 'hand and four' |
| 10 | limantalu | 'hands both' |
| 20 | damo monte | 'person whole' |
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