| Adzera | |
|---|---|
| Region | Morobe Province,Papua New Guinea |
Native speakers | (ca. 30,000 cited 2000 census)[1] |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:adz – Adzerazsu – Sukurumzsa – Sarasira |
| Glottolog | adze1240 Adzerasuku1264 Sukurumsara1323 Sarasira |
| ELP | Adzera |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Adzera (also spelledAtzera,Azera,Atsera,Acira) is anAustronesian language spoken by about 30,000 people inMorobe Province,Papua New Guinea.
Holzknecht (1989) lists six Adzera dialects.[2]
Sukurum is spoken in the villages of Sukurum (6°16′35″S146°28′36″E / 6.27629°S 146.476694°E /-6.27629; 146.476694 (Sukurum)), Rumrinan (6°16′40″S146°28′36″E / 6.277752°S 146.476623°E /-6.277752; 146.476623 (Rumdinan)), Gabagiap (6°17′22″S146°27′58″E / 6.289357°S 146.465999°E /-6.289357; 146.465999 (Gabagiap)), Gupasa, Waroum (6°17′14″S146°27′14″E / 6.287214°S 146.453831°E /-6.287214; 146.453831 (Warom)), and Wangat (6°21′11″S146°25′07″E / 6.35307°S 146.418517°E /-6.35307; 146.418517 (Wangat)) inWantoat/Leron Rural LLG.[2]
Sarasira is spoken in the villages of Sarasira (6°19′15″S146°28′59″E / 6.320957°S 146.48297°E /-6.320957; 146.48297 (Sirasira)), Som (6°19′26″S146°30′27″E / 6.323791°S 146.507495°E /-6.323791; 146.507495 (Som)), Pukpuk, Saseang (6°25′08″S146°25′01″E / 6.418768°S 146.416931°E /-6.418768; 146.416931 (Sasiang Farm)), and Sisuk inWantoat/Leron Rural LLG. Sarasira and Som share the same speech variety.[2]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Mid | o | |
| Low | ɑ | |
Thediphthongs/ɑi,ɑu/ occur, while other sequences of vowels are split over two syllables.
/o/ does not occur in the Amari and Ngarowapum dialects.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | ʔ |
| prenasalvl. | ᵐp | ⁿt | ⁿtʃ | ᵑk | ᵑʔ | |
| voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | ||
| prenasalvd. | ⁿdʒ | |||||
| Fricative | f | s | h | |||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
h occurs in only one word: theinterjectionhai "yes".
In the Amari dialect, palato-alveolar affricates/tʃ,ⁿtʃ/ anddʒ,ⁿdʒ are heard as only alveolar sounds[ts,ⁿts] and[dz,ⁿdz].[3]
Theprenasalized consonants tend to lose prenasalization initially and after consonants.
/tʃⁿtʃ/ are sometimes realized as[tsⁿts], especially incodas.
| A a | B b | D d | Dz dz | F f | G g | H h | I i | K k | M m | Mp mp | N n | Ndz ndz | Nt nt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ɑ | b | d | dʒ | f | ɡ | h | i | k | m | ᵐp | n | ⁿdʒ | ⁿt |
| Nts nts | Ŋ ŋ | Ŋk ŋk | Ŋʼ ŋʼ | P p | R r | S s | T t | Ts ts | U u | W w | Y y | ʼ | |
| ⁿtʃ | ŋ | ᵑk | ᵑʔ | p | r | s | t | tʃ | u | w | j | ʔ |
J,o andz are used in someloanwords and names.
The letter ŋ was replaced by the digraph ng in the 2015 orthography.[4]
Simplenegation in Adzera is achieved by the wordimaʔ 'no'. This word can be used on its own in response to a question, or paired with a negative sentence.[5] For example:
Imaʔ
Dzi
i-
bugin
not.like
biskit
biscuit
Imaʔ Dzi i- bugin biskit
NEG 1SG REAL not.like biscuit
No, I do not like biscuits.[5]
The Amari dialect of Adzera is specifically noted for its use ofnamu for 'no' where all other Adzera dialects would useimaʔ. however, in Amari both words can be used interchangeably.[5]
The simple negative forms above can be used in anoun phrase after the noun to modify it. Such asmamaʔ namu 'No children'. This can also apply to acoordinated noun phrase, such asiyam da ifab 'dog and pig' whereiyam da ifabnamu would mean that there were no dogs and no pigs.[6]
Most negation is done through theverb phrase. For general circumstances, verbal negation is achieved by a verbalprefixanuŋʔ- And an optional negationparticleu at the end of the sentence.[6] For example:
dzi
anuŋʔ-
i-
saŋʔ
be.enough
rim
help
-a
u
sib
u
dzianuŋʔ- i- saŋʔ rim -a u sibu
1SGNEG REAL be.enough help PTCP 2SG COMPNEG
I am not able to help you.[6]
However, for verbs in theimperative orhortative forms, which take a prefixwa- orna- respectively, the negative is achieved by replacing their respective prefixes with a negative formma- followed at the end of the sentence by a compulsory particlemaʔ.[7]
When two negative verbs or phrases are joined byda ‘and’ the first verb takes the negative prefixanuŋʔ-, and the negative particleu comes at the end of the whole sentence.[8]
muŋʔ ugu
a.long.time.ago
da
sagat
woman
anuŋʔ-
i-
ga
eat
was
lime
da
and
i-
is
hit
pauʔ
tobacco
u
{muŋʔ ugu} da sagatanuŋʔ- i- ga was da i- is pauʔu
a.long.time.ago TIME womanNEG REAL eat lime and REAL hit tobaccoNEG
A long time ago, women neither chewed betel nut nor smoked tobacco.[8]
When negating a sentence in thefuture tense, the future tense prefix is replaced with therealis prefix. Any future time marking still remains. There is also a preference toward forming negative sentences in the future tense with anauxiliary verbsaŋʔ 'be able, be enough' before the main verb of the sentence, suggesting a reluctance toward making negative statements about the future.[9] For example:
tataʔ
tomorrow
da
u
anuŋʔ-
i-
saŋʔ
be.enough
fa
go
-da
taun
town
u
tataʔ da uanuŋʔ-i- saŋʔ fa -da taunu
tomorrow TIME 2SGNEGREAL be.enough go PTCP townNEG
Tomorrow you will not be able to go to town.[9]
When coordinating two sentences of future tense, the first verb phrase replaces the future prefix with the realis, but all following verb phrases retain their future tense marking.[9]
seeList of Glossing Abbreviations.
Below is a list of Grammatical abbreviations used throughout this article:
| Grammatical Abbreviations | |
|---|---|
| NEG | Negative |
| 1SG | 1st Person Singular |
| REAL | Realis |
| PTCP | Participle |
| 2SG | 2nd Person Singular |
| COMP | Completive |
| IMP | Imperative |
COMP:completive aspectTIME:time marker