Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society JSEALS 18.2 (2025): xxiii-lxiii Data/Notes Article ISSN: 1836-6821, DOI: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://hdl.handle.net/10524/52547__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-X-SBw_n$ University of Hawai‘i Press A PHONOLOGICAL SKETCH OF URUANGNIRIN, AN ENDANGERED AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGE OF EASTERN INDONESIA Eline Visser and Artúr Stickl Uppsala University eline.visser@lingfil.uu.se Abstract This paper presents a phonological sketch on Uruangnirin, an underdescribed Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia. A word list with more than 1400 entries is found in the appendix. Keywords: Austronesian, Indonesia, phonology ISO 639-3 codes: urn 1 Introduction Uruangnirin is an Austronesian language spoken in eastern Indonesia. It has around 400 speakers. Uruangnirin is spoken in the villages Tarak, Tuburuasa,1 Faur and Kiaba on the Karas Islands. The location of the Karas Islands and the names of the villages can be found in Figure 1. The language is mostly called Rwangnirin or Wangnirin(g) by its speakers. The version with initial /r/ seems to be used by older and/or more conservative speakers, and the version with final /ŋ/ by younger and/or less conservative speakers. Uruangnirin (the variant that is known in the word list literature since Anceaux 1958) is probably a variant used by some speakers of the Tuberwasak/Tarak dialect. We have heard it used once by a speaker from Tuberwasak. Uruang/ruang/wang means ‘village’, and nirin(g) is ‘voice’ or ‘language’. The other language of the Karas Islands is Kalamang, a Papuan language of the Greater West Bomberai family (Usher and Schapper, 2022). The Karas Islands lie just off the coast of Bomberai Peninsula, which is home to 16 languages. Figure 2 is a map of the languages spoken on and around the Bomberai Peninsula (sometimes called Semenanjung Onin ‘Onin Peninsula’ in Indonesian). Language boundaries are based on SIL’s 2003 Peta bahasa Papua ‘Map of Papuan languages’.2 The Austronesian languages are all of the Seram-Tanimbar-Bomberai subgroup (Grimes and Edwards, forthcoming): Onin, Sekar and Uruangnirin (Bomberai Tip), Arguni, Mbaruan (aka Bedoanas), Yarikman (aka Erokwanas) and Irarutu (East Bomberai, but see Holmström, 2025, for an alternative analysis, and see Milano, 2025, for comments on mutual intelligibility of Arguni, Mbaruan and Yarikman). There are three languages of the Greater West Bomberai family: Kalamang, Iha and Mbaham. The other Papuan languages are Mor (isolate), Kemberano (South Bird’s Head), Tanahmerah a.k.a. Sumuri (isolate) and Buruwai, North Kamrau and South Kamrau (Asmat-Kamoro).3 The closest language to the west (not on the map), 150 kilometres west-southwest of Mas, is Geser-Gorom, an Austronesian language of the East Central Maluku group spoken on the island Gorom (alternatively spelled Gorong) and adjacent areas. We cannot vouch for the accuracy of the area on the map marked as uninhabited, but there is at least one village there, Malakuli, as indicated on the map in Figure 1. It was built several decades ago by the Indonesian government as an easily accessible administrative centre for Karas District and houses at least Kalamang, Uruangnirin and Buruwai speakers. Figure 1: Location of Karas, with the names of the six villages on the Karas Islands. Where Uruangnirin names differ from Indonesian names, they are given in italics. The Uruangnirin-speaking islands are green. Uruangnirin is part of the Tanimbar-Bomberai subgroup (Grimes and Edwards, forthcoming). The map in Figure 3 shows the locations of the Tanimbar-Bomberai languages. On Ethnologue (Eberhard et al., 2020), Uruangnirin is classified as a 6b (Threatened) language on the EGIDS scale (Lewis and Simons, 2010). This would mean that some of the child-bearing generations are transmitting the language to their children. To my knowledge, however, no one born after 2000 is a fluent speaker of Uruangnirin. We therefore classify Uruangnirin as a 7 (Shifting), and therefore Definitely Endangered on UNESCO’s scale. A language shift from Uruangnirin to Papuan Malay is currently happening, with a sharp cline for speakers born roughly between 1990 and 2000. Most people born before 1990 are fluent in Uruangnirin. They use it on a daily basis with other speakers in all kinds of settings. All Uruangnirin speakers are bilingual in Papuan Malay, and some also in Bahasa Indonesia, the standardized national variety of Malay. Papuan Malay is used in those instances where a non-Uruangnirin speaker joins the conversation. Naturally, these situations include, for example, village gatherings and wedding speeches; but Uruangnirin is by no means avoided at such events for conversations in smaller groups or for the performance of rituals. Papuan Malay is also used towards most people born after around 2000. Older speakers have reported not to have learned Papuan Malay or Indonesian before entering school. Figure 2: Languages spoken on and around Karas. Besides Papuan Malay, there is a high command of Geser-Gorom amongst the people in Kiaba, the village where most of the fieldwork was carried out. Another language spoken by many is Kalamang, as many inhabitants of Kiaba have family in Mas, a Kalamang-speaking village. None of the languages besides Papuan Malay are transmitted to children. The language of communication between spouses in mixed marriages is Papuan Malay or Uruangnirin. Uruangnirin has no written tradition and is not used as an administrative language. When asked, people readily write Uruangnirin words and texts without problems, using Indonesian orthography, which fits Uruangnirin phonology well. Now, with the spread of cheap smartphones and internet connections, some Uruangnirin may be found on social media such as Facebook. The fieldwork on which this sketch is based was carried out in Kiaba village during two field trips by the first author. The first trip took place in the winter of 2022/2023 and lasted 3.5 months. The second trip took place in early 2024 and lasted nearly two months. All data is archived with the Endangered Languages Archive (Visser et al., 2023). A word list with English translations and IPA transcriptions is included at the end of this paper. The Fieldworks file with audio files for these words and hundreds of other lexemes for which no recording and IPA transcription is available can be downloaded from the archive. This paper is structured as followed. Section 2 is the phonological sketch, and covers the phoneme inventory, syllable structure, phonotactics, stress assignment, morphophonological processes. Sociolinguistic variation is presented in section 3. In section 4 we compare Uruangnirin with other (eastern Indonesian) Austronesian languages. The appendix contains a word list with 1,400 entries. Figure 3: The Tanimbar-Bomberai languages. 2 The phonology of Uruangnirin This section describes the properties and realisation of Uruangnirin phoneme inventory, including syllable structure and phonotactics, stress assignment and morphophonological processes. 2.1 Consonants There are 18 consonant phonemes: /p b t d c ɟ k g m n ŋ r f s h w j l/. The consonant phoneme inventory of Uruangnirin is given in Table 1. Phonemes that are spelled in our data with (a) grapheme(s) are indicated in the table as well. This spelling follows standard Indonesian orthography. Table 1: Consonant phonemes bilabial labiodental alveolar palatal velar glottal plosive nasal p b m t d n c ɟ k g ŋ trill r fricative f s h approx. w j w lateral l There are four pairs of voiced/voiceless plosives: bilabial /p/ and /b/, alveolar /t/ and /d/, palatal /c/ and /ɟ/, and velar /k/ and /g/. About half of the occurrences of /c/ are in loan words, and /ɟ/ only occurs in loan words. Their pronunciation varies slightly: between [c] and [ʧ] for the unvoiced stop, and between [ɟ] and [dʒ] for the voiced stop. The voiced stops and /c/ do not occur syllable-finally. There are three nasals: bilabial /m/, alveolar /n/ and velar /ŋ/. The latter does not occur syllable-initially. There is one trill: alveolar /r/. The fricatives are alveolar /s/, labiodental /f/ and glottal /h/, the latter only in loan words. The language has two approximants: bilabial/velar /w/ and palatal /j/. Finally, there is a lateral /l/, also with alveolar place of articulation. The phonemes /c/, /ɟ/, /h/ and /j/ are very infrequent. They each have less than 100 occurrences in the word list (counted July 2024). The next least frequent phoneme is /d/ with 270 occurrences. /c/ is infrequent because it mainly occurs in loan words and a few indigenous words, like the quantifier for tens puca, can ‘widower’ and pacul ‘hoe; to hoe’ (the latter being a loan from Indonesian/Papuan Malay). /ɟ/ is infrequent because it restricted to loan words such as jam ‘hour’ (from Indonesian/Papuan Malay). /h/ is found in loan words, in interjections (like yoh ‘yeah’ and eh ‘right’), and in a few variants of words with /f/ and/or /k/ (afuna ~ ahuna ‘to do’, ahutir ~ afutir ‘to search’, kurma ~ furma ~ hurma). /j/ mainly occurs in loan words and words Uruangnirin has in common with Kalamang, like yakop ‘cockatoo’ and sayang ‘nutmeg’. Minimal and near-minimal sets are given in (1) to (14). We try to provide the sounds word-initially. Where that was not possible, the sounds are given in medial position. (1) bilabials: /p – b – m – w/ perperi ‘new; first’ [pɛr.ˈper.i] ber ‘smoke-dry place’ [bɛr] mek ‘goat’ [mɛk] wer ‘water’ [wɛr] (2) alveolars: /t – d – s – n – r – l/ ti ‘go’ [ti] di ‘1SG.REL’ [di] sika ‘cat’ [ˈsi.ka] ni ‘3SG.POSS’ [ni] riri ‘kunai grass’ [ˈri.ri] li ‘1SG’ [li] (3) palatals: /c – ɟ – j/ (predominantly in loans) suci ‘holy’ [ˈsu.ci] (PM loan) janji ‘promise’ [ˈɟan.ɟi] (PM loan) manyanyi ‘sing’ [man.ˈjan.ji] (PM loan) (4) velars and glottal: /k – g – w – h/ (/ŋ/ does not occur word-initially) kai kala ‘k.o. tree’ [kai ˈka.la] gala ‘spear’ [ˈga.la] wala ‘throw a stick’ [ˈwa.la] halar ‘marry’ [ˈha.lar] (5) voiceless stops: /p – t – c – k/ apar ‘to pay’ [a.ˈpar] atara ‘to cut’ [a.ˈtara] acara ‘feast’ [a.ˈcara] (PM loan) akarakaf ‘to be itchy’ [a.ˈka.ra.kaf] (6) voiced stops: /b – d – ɟ – g/ bi ‘or’ [bi] di ‘1SG.REL’ [di] janji ‘promise’ [ˈɟan.ɟi] (PM loan) awanggi ‘to give’ [a.ˈwaŋ.gi] (7) bilabial stops: /p – b/ puak ‘open’ [ˈpuak̚] buak ‘betel’ [ˈbuak̚] (8) alveolar stops: /t – d/ ta ‘1PL.INCL’ [ta] da ‘REL’ [da] (9) palatal stops: /c – ɟ/ cat ‘paint’ [cat̚] (PM loan) hajat ‘feast’ [ˈha.ɟat̚] (PM loan) (10) velar stops: /k – g/ karangan ‘near’ [ka.ˈraŋ.an] garang ‘name’ [ˈga.raŋ] (11) nasals: /m – n – ŋ/ initial masi ‘smoke’ [ˈma.si] nasi ‘sugar’ [ˈna.si] piŋan ‘plate’ [ˈpi.ŋan] final nem ‘six’ [nɛm] nen ‘load’ [nɛn] (12) liquids: /l – r/ initial rau ‘canoe’ [rau] lau ‘1SG’ [lau] final Tetar ‘Tetar’ [ˈte.tar] (place name) tetal ‘cut finely’ [ˈte.tal] (13) fricatives: f – s – h fari ‘ray’ [ˈfa.ri] sarit ‘cut off’ [ˈsa.rit̚] hari ‘day’ [ˈha.ri] (PM loan) (14) glides: /w – j/ wang ‘village’ [waŋ] rupayang ‘wave’ [ru.ˈpa.jaŋ] 2.2 Vowels There are five vowel phonemes /i e a ɔ u/, see also Table 2. Except allophonic variation for the mid front vowel /e/, the realisation of the vowels seems unaffected by syllable structure, stress, or surrounding sounds. There is some variation in the realisation of back vowel /ɔ/ between [ɔ] and [o], with the former being much more common. Similarly, front vowel /i/ is sometimes pronounced as near-close [ɪ], although realisation as close [i] is much more common. We have not been able to detect clear patterns in this variation. Table 2: Vowel phonemes i u e ɔ a Mid front vowel /e/ can be lowered to [ɛ], but the circumstances under which this happens are not entirely clear. We auditorily analysed the /e/ sounds of one speaker, the female speaker whose recordings illustrate the word list. In monosyllabic words, regardless of whether the syllable is open or closed, /e/ is realized as [ɛ], illustrated in (15). For longer words, we only analysed open syllables, as we have very little data for closed syllables with /e/. The stressed syllable in disyllabic words tends to be [e] after labial and coronal consonants (see example 16), while it tends to be [ɛ] after those pronounced further back. That is, the position of articulation of the consonant colours the vowel. However, there is some variation for some items with both front and back consonants, given in (17). The other speaker for whom we have recordings, a male speaker, has [e] in all these items. For the back consonants, what little data we have for the female speaker points at [ɛ], given in (18). However, the male speaker has [e] in those items. When the stress falls on the last syllable, which is not the default position for stress in Uruangnirin (§3.4), the realisation of /e/ is unpredictable, as given in (19). The male speaker even varies his pronunciation of akes ‘to break off’ between [a'kes] and [a'kɛs]. Words with more than two syllables with regular penultimate stress seem to invariably have [e]. This is illustrated in (20). We have no data for such long words with stress on another syllable. Finally, unstressed syllables have unpredictable pronunciation, see (21). The examples include loan words from Indonesian/Papuan Malay and a few words with inflection (e.g. third person subject marker a-, which was used to elicit all verbs). To our knowledge, these do not have any influence on the realization of /e/. (15) Monosyllabic words: [ɛ] a. [mɛk̚] ‘goat’ b. [nɛm] ‘six’ c. [rɛp ̚] ‘shoal’ d. [bɛ] ‘where’ e. [sɛ] ‘who’ (16) Disyllabic words, stressed syllable, stress on penult, following front consonant: [e] a. ['lepir] ‘roof rafter’ b. ['metar] ‘all’ c. ['weɡam] ‘rust’ (17) Disyllabic words, stressed syllable, stress on penult, variable items a. ['kɛʈɛl] ‘kettle’ ~ [ˈkekɛn] ‘chin’ b. ['rɛɡil] ‘kind of beam’ ~ [aˈrekar] ‘to cry’ c. ['ɛraf] ‘centipede’ ~ ['erik] ‘seed’ (18) Disyllabic words, stressed syllable, stress on penult, following back consonant: [ɛ] a. ['gɛram] ‘bitter’ b. ['hɛran] ‘be surprised’ (19) Disyllabic words, stressed syllable, stress on last syllable: variable a. [a'kɛs] ‘to break off’ b. [sa'rek] ‘kind of lorikeet’ ~ [a'rɛt] ‘tie’ (20) Words with more than two syllables, stressed syllable, stress on penult: [e] a. [a'keri] ‘to scratch’ b. [kuˈtena] ‘papaya’ c. [apɛn'peni] ‘to play’ d. [af'ɡenak] ‘alone; separated’ e. [ataˈfeda] ‘to throw away’ (21) Unstressed syllables in words of any length: variable a. ['wortɛl] ‘carrot’ b. [dɛm'totir] ‘everyone’ c. ['kawer] ‘land; earth; soil’ d. ['nokɛn] ‘net bag’ e. [a'pele] ‘to block’ f. [pɛm'peni] ‘play’ g. [pɛtˈpetin] ‘white’ h. [sɛ'bur] ‘recite’ i. [se'men] ‘concrete’ j. [te'man] ‘friend’ k. [atɛ'pei] ‘to kick’ 2.3 Syllable structure An Uruangnirin syllable consists minimally of a vowel, and maximally of a vowel preceded by one or two consonants and followed by one consonant. Disyllabic roots are most common, followed by monosyllabic ones. The most common root type in the entire corpus is CVCVC. Vowel-initial roots are uncommon in general. Roots of different sizes and shapes are given in (22) to (25). (22) V [o] ‘2SG’ VC [ur] ‘to help’ CV [se] ‘who’ CVC [can] ‘widower’ CCV [fno] ‘to order’ CCVC [ŋgor] ‘to break’ (23) V.CV [ˈu.ni] ‘rudder’ V.CVC [ˈi.naŋ] ‘sago’ VC.CV [af.ˈka] ‘like that’ VC.CVC [ˈiŋ.gar] ‘to float’ CV.CV [ˈsu.ni] ‘spoon’ CV.CVC [ˈgo.rif] ‘k.o. fish’ CVC.CVC [min.ˈlɛn] ‘woman’ CVC.CV [pin.ˈca] ‘side’ CCVC.CV [ˈsnaŋ.ga] ‘to find; to get’ CCVC.CVC [ˈfriŋ.gat] ‘to carry on one’s back’ CCV.CV [ˈfre.ka] ‘to remember’ (24) V.CV.CV [a.ˈmi.na] ‘at’ VC.CV.CV [ir.ˈfo.si] ‘k.o. trevally (a fish)’ CV.CV.CV [ku.ˈte.na] ‘papaya’ CV.CV.CVC [ta.ra.ˈmus] ‘fairytale’ (25) CV.CV.CV.CV [ma.ka.ˈni.ni] ‘citrus fruit’ CV.CV.VC.CVC [ka.na.ˈba.raf] ‘Kanabaraf’ (a placename and common surname in Kiaba) 2.4 Phonotactics All consonants are found in onset position, except for /ŋ/, which is only found in words with an /ŋg/ onset. The pronunciation of these words is sociolinguistically determined: they are pronounced with a /g/ onset by younger and less conservative speakers. Likely, /ŋ/ is not a phoneme word-initially, but just prenasalisation. The only unvoiced stop that can’t occur in coda position is /c/. The other unvoiced stops (/p/, /t/ and /k/) are unreleased in final position. Voiced stops (/b/, /d/, /ɟ/ and /g/) don’t occur in coda position. Finally, /h/ cannot occur in coda position in words other than interjections. This phoneme is otherwise only used in loan words. Final /h/ is dropped in words that are borrowed from for example Indonesian (such that sekolah is sekola ~ sikola ~ sakola ~ skola, just like in the local Papuan Malay). While CC-onsets are allowed (as illustrated in 23), they are mostly found in verb stems and typically avoided (word-initially) in one of two ways. First, this can be done by adding a vowel-final subject index prefix (e.g. ftobir ‘search’ ∼ ta-ftobir ‘we search’). CC-initial verbs without subject index are found in the corpus but are exceedingly rare. Second, words with CC-onsets seem to be the result of vowel deletion, and usually have a variant with a vowel (e.g. ftobir ∼ fatobir ‘search’). For more examples and information, see section 2.6.3 on vowel deletion and prothesis. (26) illustrates all consonant combinations that are found in onsets in the Uruangnirin corpus. Each combination is given with the morphemes it occurs in. We also add notes on subject indexing and other relevant information from the context these morphemes occur in, as well as variants. (26) a. /pl/ plan ‘kind of plank’, PM loan b. /bl/ isin blarang ‘fever’, lit. ‘body hot’, variants ablarang and balarang c. /tf/ ta-tfeda ‘1PL.INCL-throw away’, stem variant tafeda d. /tn/ tno ‘go seawards’, tna ‘go landwards’, tnabak ‘soak’, only found with index, e.g. 3rd person a-tno, a-tna and a-tnabak – latter also has a variant tanabak e. /tr/ trus ‘continue’, PM loan, fast speech variant of terus f. /gr/ gruain(tuni) ‘morning’, fast speech variant of ruguain g. /mp/ a-mpeni ‘3-play’ h. /mt/ m(ton)tonang ‘sit’, only found with index, e.g. ta-mtontonang ‘1PL.INCL-sit’ i. /md/ mdufak ‘forget’, only found with index, e.g. i-mdufak ‘1SG-forget’, stem variant madufak) j. /mn/ mno ‘come seawards’ and mna, only found with index, e.g. 1PL.EXCL ma-mno and ma-mna k. /mr/ mriri ‘stand’, only found with index, e.g. li-mriri ‘1SG-stand’, stem variant mariri l. /nd/ nde ~ ndei ~ ndeh, an interjection expressing contempt m. /fp/ fpen(d)ik ‘sell’ and fpotik ‘sprout’, only found with index, e.g. 3rd person a-fpendik and a-fpotik n. /fn/ fnggarak ‘smell’ (variant fanggarak), fnangga ‘find’ (variants fanangga and snangga), fnaka ‘run’ (variant fanaka), fno ‘order’ and fnonak ‘put away’ (variant fanonak), only found with index, e.g. 3rd person a-fnggarak, a-fnangga, a-fnaka, a-fno and a-fnonak o. /fr/ frifa ‘blow’ (variant farifa), fringgat ‘carry’, fririk ‘stand (transitive)’, fresi ‘fight’, freka ‘remember’ (variant fareka), frafar ‘call out’, frawak ‘weed’ (variant farawak), frusa ‘gather’ (variant farusa), froba ‘evening’ (variant faroba), verbs mostly found with index p. /fs/ fsawa ‘be married’, usually as a-fasawa ‘3-be.married’, variant fasawa q. /fl/ flari ‘search’, only found with index, e.g. ta-flari ‘1PL.INCL-search’ r. /fk/ fkain ‘cook’, only found with index, e.g. mi-fkain ‘2SG-cook’, stem variant fakain s. /fg/ fgesak ‘cut’, only found with index, e.g. i-fgesak ‘1SG-cut’, stem variant fagesak t. /sp/ spurik ‘spread’, variant of sipurik, one occurrence as pora spurik ‘PROH spread’ u. /st/ stengamati ‘tiring’, lit. ‘half dead’, PM loan, fast speech variant of isetenggamati v. /sn/ snangga ‘find’, variant of fnangga (see above), only found with index, e.g. mi-snangga ‘2SG-find’ w. /sk/ skokir ‘mix’, variant of sikokir Vowels may occur in any position. Vowel sequences are common, and there seem few restrictions, though frequencies vary a lot. They are given in Table 3, with examples in (27). Notice that vowel sequences, especially those ending in glides, may also be pronounced as diphthongs, e.g. : /tai/ [ta.i] ~ [taj] and /rau/ [ra.u] ~ [raw]. We have chosen to analyse all these as underlyingly vowel sequences rather than combinations of vowel + glide because it seems the simplest analysis based on our current knowledge of Uruangnirin. Firstly, we did this so as not to introduce an extra phoneme category in the syllable structure (next to C and V). Secondly, there are no minimal pairs of the VV type /ra.u/ vs. VC /raw/. However, this is a topic that should be investigated in future work, for example by measuring the length of the vocalic elements in connected speech, the effects of reduplication, and native speaker intuition. A few hints on the last two are given below. Table 3: Vowel sequences a e i o u a - - 142 - 36 e - - 67 1 1 i 48 - - 1 - o 1 - 23 - 3 u 157 6 - - - (27) a. ai [ˈta.i] ‘no; not’ b. au [ˈra.u] ‘canoe’ c. ei [i.ˈde.i] ‘beach’ d. eo [ˈge.or] ‘beetle’ e. eu [ne.ˈne.ur] ‘ironwood’ f. ia [man.ˈci.a] ‘people’ g. io [ˈi.o] ‘yes’ (spelling variant of iyo) h. oa [ˈdo.a] ‘prayer’ i. oi [ˈŋga.la mo.ˈi.mo.i] ‘spider’ j. ou [ˈto.ur] ‘threaten’ k. ua [pa.ˈtu.an] ‘stomach’ l. ue [ku.ˈe.rin] ‘tongue’ m. ui [ki.si.ˈwu.i] ‘Kisiwui’ (placename) Semivowels are fairly consistently used in spelling in the current Uruangnirin corpus. In most cases, VV-initial words where the first V is /i/ or /u/ are spelled with the glide symbols or . The same goes for /i/ and /u/ in between other vowels. Hence, [u.ˈo.u.a] ‘father’s sister’ is spelled wowa, and [i.ˈa.u.at] ‘rat’ is spelled yawat. Three exceptions are guaintuni [gu.a.in.ˈtu.ni] ‘morning’, suair [su.ˈa.i.r] ‘poison balls’ and suai [su.ˈa.i] ‘what’. These are consistently spelled by my three transcription assistants with VVV-sequences, probably because a CC onset is highly uncommon. Note also that [gu.a.i.n.ˈtu.ni] is reduplicated as [gu.gu.a.i.n.ˈtu.ni]. Another exception is fauar [fa.ˈu.ar] ‘news’. Lastly, there is variation in the of spelling [rua]-sequences: assistants use both marwana and maruana for [mar.u.ˈa.na] ‘man’, and for [ˈru.aŋ] ‘village’, both rwang and ruang are common spellings. We are not sure what causes this variation and preserved it in the Fieldworks project.4 In this paper, we spell Uruangnirin and ruang with . 2.5 Stress assignment Stress is typically on the penultimate syllable, regardless of the number of syllables in the root, as could be seen in (2)–(4) above. Examples of roots with stress on the last syllable are e.g. aˈbi ‘sour’, maŋˈgo ‘banana’, bibiˈtoŋ ‘butterfly’ and amˈgor ‘shout’. See also minˈlen ‘woman’, pinˈca ‘side’ and taraˈmus ‘fairytale’, introduced in (2) and (3). Some of the words with root-final stress appear to be loans from Kalamang. This neighbouring Papuan language has unpredictable stress but has a slight preference for the right edge (Visser, 2022, 74). Examples are taˈpar ‘k.o. kangaroo’ and saˈnoŋ ‘thatched roof’, which have the same meaning and stress pattern in Kalamang. There are also words that are the same in Uruangnirin and Kalamang except for the stress: lusi ‘eagle’ is an example. In Uruangnirin, it is pronounced ˈlusi, in Kalamang luˈsi. 2.6 Morphophonological processes There are very few morphophonological processes in Uruangnirin, and they are quite limited in scope. Vowel harmony occurs on some verbs and is only practiced by older or more conservative speakers (section 2.6.1). Vowel deletion and prothesis is found mainly on verbs with reflexes of the proto-Austronesian morphemes causative *pa- and stative *ma-, and is described in sections 2.6.2 and 2.6.3. 2.6.1 Vowel harmony Vowel harmony occurs on some verbs with an onset consisting of /p/ /t/ or /k/, followed by /a/ and a consonant. In those verbs, when inflected with a subject index, the first /a/ of the stem is replaced by /i/ if the subject index contains /i/. This is illustrated with the verb kapunin ‘hide’ in Table 4. Table 4: Inflection of the verb kapunin ‘hide’ using vowel harmony prefix true root altered root with affix 1SG lai-/li-/i- kapunin laikipunin 2SG mi- kapunin mikipunin 3SG a- kapunin akapunin 1PL.EX ama-/am-/ma- kapunin amakapunin mi- kapunin mikipunin 1PL.IN ta- kapunin takapunin 2PL mi- kapunin mikipunin 3PL a- kapunin akapunin The following verbs have been attested to show vowel harmony: kabai ‘defecate’, kabom ‘be wet’, kaluar ‘exit’, kamimi ‘urinate’, kanal ‘know’, kanusi ‘take off’, kapara ‘carry on shoulders’, kapasi ‘sneeze’, kapitik ‘jump’ and katof ‘shoot’, pare ‘know’, tafeda ‘throw (away)’, talapis ‘layer’, talinggir ‘make slope or slant’, targupak ‘turn upside down’, tarpani ‘return; turn around’. The fact that vowel harmony occurs also on some loans from Papuan Malay (kanal ‘know’ and kaluar ‘exit’) proves that it was a productive process until quite recently. A number of verbs with the same onset pattern (plosive + /a/ + consonant) was tested for vowel harmony during fieldwork in 2024.6 Some examples of verbs that did not seem to allow vowel harmony are: katam ‘pinch’, kafar ‘spread out’, kanata ‘carry a child’, papat ‘weave’, patar ‘stay up late’, taba ‘skewer’, tapin ‘burn’, tarima ‘receive’. Vowel harmony is only practiced by more conservative speakers. 2.6.2 Plosive devoicing Plosive devoicing is limited to a handful of verbs, where plosives are devoiced when they end up in front of another consonant because of CVC reduplication. This is illustrated in (28). (28) a. pidir ‘piece; little’ → wai pitpidir ‘clothes; things’ b. ftigin ‘chase’ → fatiktigin ‘chase each other’ 2.6.3 Vowel deletion and prothesis At least 50 lexemes show vowel deletion and prothesis in the first syllable. It occurs mainly on verbs, and mainly involving the consonants /f/ and /m/ and the vowel /a/. Many words with these phonemes in the first syllable show alternations (for example between am- and ma-), or they allow only a CV-form (for example ma-) or only a VC-form (for example am-). Many of these words seem to carry more or less fossilised remnants of proto-Austronesian *ma- ‘stative’ and *pa- ‘causative’ (forms and functions from Blust, 2013, 371). In addition to the 50-or-so lexemes, the first person plural exclusive and second person plural subject indexes can also undergo vowel deletion and prothesis. The variation appears to be without function. As an illustration of the data, consider the lexemes in (29) to (31) and the number of times they occur in the database. (29) /m/ a. felled: amrepa 46, marepa 8 b. old; ripe: amtua 19, matua 11 c. correct; straight: amnonan(g) 0, manonan(g) 48 (30) /f/ a. sell: afpen(d)ik 47, fapen(d)ik 5 b. cook: afkain 40, fakain 34 c. middle: afruar 0, faruar 75 (31) other a. hot: (a)blaran(g) 46, balaran(g) 2 b. 1PL.EXCL: am- 158, (a)ma- 526 (on C-initial verb stems) Our hypothesis is that the CV-forms are the original ones, and that the VC-forms have undergone vowel deletion and then, to avoid a CC-onset, prothesis of a vowel. The question remains why some verbs can undergo vowel deletion and prothesis, while others don’t, and then why the ones that don’t are not fossilised in the same way (either CV or VC). A part of the answer might be that these processes are common with reflexes of *ma- and *pa- because the most common trisyllables are words with these (historic) prefixes. Words in Austronesian languages are typically disyllabic, and words larger than this are often historically polymorphemic (Brandstetter 1901:1, Chrétien 1965, Haudricourt 1968, 162–182, Blust 2007:1–36, Edwards 2020:143, Tamelan 2021:35). 3 Sociolinguistic variation There is some sociolinguistic variation in Uruangnirin, most of which has to do with phonology and morphology. All variation can be split in two: one group contains the older and/or more conservative speakers, and the other the younger and/or more progressive speakers. We have not encountered conservative speakers in the youngest age group (roughly born after 1990), and we know at least one speaker born in the late sixties who is a progressive speaker, but on average, the conservative speakers are older than the progressive speakers. First, in many words, progressive speakers use final /ŋ/ where conservative ones use /n/. For example, while progressive speakers say diring ‘wind’, nawang ‘liver’ and suang ‘plant’, conservative speakers use dirin, nawan and suan. There are /ŋ/-final words that are used as such by all speakers, e.g. bibitong ‘butterfly’, and there are /n/-final words that are used as such by all speakers, e.g. fian ‘good’. Second, /ŋg/ onsets are only used by conservative speakers. Progressive speakers use /g/ onsets in these words. So, while progressive speakers use garak ‘year’ and geram ‘bitter’, older speakers say nggarak and nggaram. There seem to be fewer conservative speakers that use /ŋg/ onsets than /n/ codas. /ŋg/ onsets may be the last instance of prenasalisation on plosives that is used in Uruangnirin. Third, conservative speakers use an irregular verb paradigm with the third person prefix n-, while progressive speakers have reanalysed this n- as belonging to the verb stem and inflect such verbs with the regular third person prefix a-. For example, conservative speakers say n-osir ‘3SG-say’, while progressive speakers say a-nosir ‘3SG-say’. Fourth, the vowel harmony described in §2.5.1 is only practiced by conservative speakers. While they might inflect kapitik ‘jump’ in the first-person singular as li-kipitik ‘I jump’, progressive speakers typically say li-kapitik ‘I jump’. 4 Comparison with Eastern Indonesian Austronesian languages By way of closing off this sketch, we make a brief comparison between Uruangnirin and other Austronesian languages, focusing on those spoken in eastern Indonesia and specifically the three closest relatives with good descriptive data: Yamdena, Kei and Irarutu. The phonology of Uruangnirin shares both similarities and differences with other (eastern Indonesian) Austronesian languages. Austronesian languages, particularly those in Central and Eastern Indonesia, tend to have relatively simple phonologies. The phoneme inventories are typically smaller than the world average, usually containing three to five vowels and 16–20 consonants, with only a few fricatives and a limited number of nasals. The most frequent syllable structures are (C)V and (C)VC, with a common preference for disyllabic roots and a tendency toward reduced forms in longer words (Adelaar and Himmelmann 2005: 115; Blust 2013: 169). Uruangnirin fits this general pattern, with 5 vowels and 18 consonants. However, unlike many eastern Indonesian languages, Uruangnirin does not exhibit restrictions on consonants in coda position or on consonant clusters across syllable boundaries (see section 2.4). This is in contrast to other languages in the region, where syllables typically avoid complex codas, and consonant clusters across syllable boundaries are often restricted. Similarly to other Austronesian languages, stress occurs typically on the penultimate syllable in Uruangnirin, although there is a fair number of examples with stress on the final syllable as well (section 2.5). Diphthongs are present in Uruangnirin and can appear in any position within a word (section 2.4), which is consistent with many eastern Indonesian languages that display diphthongs in various phonological environments (Adelaar and Himmelmann 2005:116). When compared with what Klamer (2002) describes as the three typical phonological features in eastern Indonesian languages – prenasalized consonants, CVCV roots, and metathesis – Uruangnirin’s features seem to be rather different: 1. Although prenasalized consonants are present, they are very rare (only with /g/) and not phonemic. In contrast, eastern Indonesian languages often feature prenasalization more prominently (Klamer 2002:367). 2. CVCV (253 single word entries) roots are common, however the most common roots are of the shape CVCVC (545 single word entries). This trend, though much less strong, is upheld in longer words too (CVCVCV 118 entries, CVCVCVC 126 entries). This is in line with the more general preference for disyllabic roots observed in Austronesian languages (Adelaar and Himmelmann 2005:115). There seems to be no dispreference for CC clusters across syllable boundaries (but word-initially they are rare, and see also the next point), or for closed syllables. As both root-final consonants and consonant clusters are allowed, paragogic vowel addition and the dropping of a root-final consonant do not occur in Uruangnirin. 3. Metathesis is not found, but something similar is going on with reflexes of the proto-Austronesian verbal prefixes *ma- ‘stative’ and *pa- ‘causative’. This is analysed as vowel deletion followed by prothesis and is discussed in section 2.6.3. We will compare these features briefly to the three closest relatives of Uruangnirin for which good data is available: Yamdena, Kei and Irarutu (ISO 639-3 codes jmd, kei and irh respectively). These are all languages of the Tanimbar-Bomberai subgroup (Grimes and Edwards forthcoming). Yamdena, unlike Uruangnirin, has phonetic prenasalisation of /b/ and /d/, vowel insertion and metathesis. Like in Uruangnirin, root-final consonants are common (all data presented in Visser 2023, see also Mettler and Mettler 1997). Prenasalization of these stops may have been present in Uruangnirin too, and might be visible in variant pronunciations of words like wamar ~ wambar ‘hornbill’ and itanena ~ itanenda ‘our’. Like Uruangnirin, Kei has no prenasalisation (Villa Rikkers 2014) and consonant-final morphemes seem abundant (there are for example consonant-only suffixes, Van Engelenhoven 2021). We could not find any mention of vowel insertion. Unlike Uruangnirin, Kei has metathesis (Geurtjens 1921, also some mention in Villa Rikkers 2014 and Van Engelenhoven 2021). Irarutu has phonetic prenasalisation of all voiced stops in one dialect. It has vowel epenthesis word-finally, but at the same time there is reduction of vowels in disyllabic and some trisyllabic words, reducing them by one syllable. So, Irarutu disprefers C-codas but has no dispreference for CC-clusters. Irarutu has some metathesis, but it seems to involve only consonants (all data from Jackson 2014). Summarizing, we can say that none of the four discussed languages of the Tanimbar-Bomberai subgroup fits perfectly in Klamer’s (2002) typology, they also do not completely deviate from the phonological trends observed in eastern Indonesian languages. References Adelaar, Alexander, and Nikolaus P. Himmelmann, eds. 2005. The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. London and New York: Routledge. Anceaux, Johannes Cornelis. 1958. Languages of the Bomberai Peninsula: Outline of a linguistic map. Nieuw-Guinea Studiën 2:109–121. Blust, Robert A. 2007. Disyllabic attractors and anti-antigemination in Austronesian sound change. Phonology 24.1:1–36. doi:10.1017/S0952675707001121. Blust, Robert A. 2013. The Austronesian languages. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. URL https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://hdl.handle.net/1885/146289__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-XK_tqG_$ , revised edition. Brandstetter, Renward. 1901. Wurzelstudien aus dem Malaiischen: Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Sprachenkunde. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Chrétien, Jean-Louis. 1965. The Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Phoneme System. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program (Data Paper No. 35). Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig, ed. 2020. Ethnologue. Dallas: SIL International, 23 edition. URL https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.ethnologue.com__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-ZAegV2A$ van Engelenhoven, A. 2021. Dressed, undressed, or both; The case of Ewaw in Southeast Maluku. Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia 22.2:389–418. Edwards, Owen. 2020. Metathesis and unmetathesis in Amarasi. Berlin: Language Science Press. Grimes, Charles E., and Owen Edwards. (forthcoming). The Austronesian Languages of Eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste: unravelling their prehistory and classification. Berlin: Language Science Press. Geurtjens, Hendrik. 1921. Spraakleer der Keieesche Taal. (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, LXIII:2.) The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. Hammarström, Harald, Robert Forkel, Martin Haspelmath, and Sebastian Bank. 2024. Glottolog 5.1. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14006617__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-ezlysPg$ (Available online at https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://glottolog.org__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-Z2BAcqx$ , Accessed on 2025-05-06.) Haudricourt, André-Georges. 1968. Les mutations consonantiques en austronésien. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 63.1:161–182. Holmström, Tilda Jacobson. 2025. Reevaluating the Classification of Nuta: A study of Arguni, Erokwanas, and Bedoanas within the Central Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. Bachelor’s thesis, Uppsala University. Jackson, Jason. 2014. A grammar of Irarutu. Doctoral dissertation, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Kamholz, David. 2014. Austronesians in Papua: Diversification and change in South-Halmahera-West New Guinea. Doctoral Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. Klamer, Marian. 2002. Typical features of Austronesian languages in central/eastern Indonesia. Oceanic Linguistics 41.2:363–383. Lewis, M. Paul, and Gary F. Simons. 2010. Assessing endangerment: expanding Fishman’s GIDS. RRLLV:103–120. Milano, Pietro. 2025. A sketch grammar of Arguni. Utrecht University MA thesis. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/49378__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-eHk_TE_$ Tamelan, Thersia Magdalena. 2021. A grammar of Dela: an Austronesian language of Rote, eastern Indonesia. Doctoral Dissertation, Australian National University. Visser, Eline, Kamal Kanabaraf, Rustam Kanabaraf, Salis Maswatu Kanabaraf and Safrudin Tianotak. 2023. Uruangnirin language documentation. Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://hdl.handle.net/2196/dd459a7c-2493-4d26-9801-cc071a72bd34__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-VxEhtqP$ . Mettler, Heidi, and Toni Mettler. 1997b. Yamdena grammar notes. Ambon. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/94080__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-VU4gMbU$ . Accessed 2024-12-11. Usher, Timothy, and Antoinette Schapper. 2022. The Greater West Bomberai language family. Oceanic Linguistics 61:er1–er59. Villa Rikkers, Yuri. 2014. Topics in Evaf morphology: a comparative analysis of inflectional categories in an Austronesian language of the Southeast Moluccas. Master’s thesis, Leiden University. Reviewed: Received 4 August 2024, revised text accepted 30 July 25, published 1 September 2025 Editors: Editor-In-Chief Dr Mark Alves | Managing Eds. Dr Paul Sidwell, Dr Sigrid Lew, Dr Mathias Jenny, Dr Kenneth Van Bik Appendix This word list contains the words for which an IPA transcription is available: more than 1400 out of 3300 words. For most words with an IPA transcription, there is also a recording available. The transcription is based on the recording and therefore reflects the pronunciation of the person recorded. The recordings are mainly of one speaker: Nur Ain Kanabaraf, female, born in 1977. A few additional recordings were added of Badarudin Kanabaraf, male, born 1982. Both speakers were asked to read aloud the word list, saying every word twice, during fieldwork in 2024. The recordings are not ideal: the speakers are not used to reading aloud and often hesitate or make small mistakes. Most items have list intonation and final stops are sometimes released. We only selected files with good audio quality, and without pronunciation mistakes. All files are accessible in the Uruangnirin corpus (Visser et al. 2023). The Fieldworks file with the linked audio recordings is accessible via the handle https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://hdl.handle.net/2196/d618c786-6627-4ff6-944f-6c2276c03d99__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-aYOtxHi$ , and the audio recordings via https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://hdl.handle.net/2196/8a98e2cd-a706-4fb5-9e8f-39c7f6a7bde7__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-S5xpKOv$ . The Fieldworks file also gives access to the full dictionary with all 3300 lexemes, parts of speech, definitions, examples, scientific names pictures and notes. A a abaca [aˈbaca] to read abalai [abaˈlai] to wither; to wilt abalajar [abaˈlaɟar] to learn abana [aˈbana] to go; to walk abana niman [aˈbana ˈniman] to walk abantu [aˈbantu] to help abaras [abaˈras] to scrub (something that has been soaked first) abi [aˈbi] sour abingung [aˈbiŋuŋ] to be confused; to confuse abit [aˈbit̚] to have wrinkly hands from being wet a long time ablarang [abˈlaraŋ] hot abobar [aˈbobar] to startle aboka [aˈboka] to spill; to pour abor [aˈbɔr] to drill abubir [aˈbubir] to fall abubit [aˈbubit] to rise abula [aˈbula] round abulbula [bulˈbula] to roll abulis [aˈbulis] round abur [aˈbur] to hit the stem of a tree so that its fruits fall out abusang [ˈbusaŋ], [ˈbusan] to be dirty abusil [aˈbusil] to pass acempang [aˈʧɛmpaŋ] to kick with the inside of the foot acotin [aˈʧɔtil] to move adamo [aˈdamɔ] to believe; to think adedak [aˈdedak] all; completely adesil [aˈdesil] to plane ado [ˈado] oh no afading [aˈfadiŋ] to go around afafat [aˈfafat̚ ] to slap afair [aˈfair] to sail; to leave; to travel afakan [aˈfakan] to serve food afakat [aˈfakat̚ ] to chisel afakur [aˈfakur] to scrape afanggara [afaŋˈɡara] quickly afanggarak [afaŋˈɡarak̚] to kiss; to smell; to feel with the mouth afanggenak [afaŋˈɡenak] to separate; to split afanggus [aˈfaŋɡus] to whistle afarakwai [afaraˈkwai] to talk; to speak; to tell a story afarifa [afaˈrifa] to blow afarusa [afaˈrusa] to gather afasa [aˈfasa] to buy afasar [aˈfasar] to dry in the sun afata [aˈfata] to snap; to break afatobir [faˈtobir] to send afbe [afˈbe] why; how afdua [afˈdua] bark afeda [aˈfeda] to throw afenang [aˈfenaŋ] to extinguish; to turn off aferak [aˈferak̚] to squeeze afesan [aˈfesan] to kill afgenak [afˈɡenak] alone; separated afgesak [afˈɡesak̚] to cut in big pieces afika [aˈfika] to see afini [aˈfini] to choose; pick; collect afisak [aˈfisak̚] to push afka [afˈka] like that afkain [afˈkain] to cook afkat [afˈkat̚] avocado afke [afˈkɛ] like this afko [afˈkɔ] like that aflari [afˈlari] to search for leftovers (e.g. fruits) afmasik [afˈmasik̚] smoke-dry; smoke-cook afnaka [afˈnaka] to run; to sail; to hunt afno [afˈnɔ] to order afnonak [afˈnɔnak̚] to put away things; to tidy up; to bring in order afonak [aˈfɔnak̚] to put; to store afosan [aˈfɔsan] to perform ritual afpotik [afˈpɔtik̚] to sprout; to bud afrafar [afˈrafar] to call out afrawak [afˈrawak̚] to weed, typically in the nutmeg plantation, by using a machete afreka [afˈreka] to remember; to think about afresi [afˈresi] to fight afririk [afˈririk̚] tall; steep afririk [afˈririk̚] to wake afroba [afˈroba] night afroba us [afˈroba us] middle of night afrusa [afˈrusa] to gather afsawa [afˈsawa] be married aftakut [afˈtakut̚] to scare aftara [afˈtara] angry aftigin [afˈtigin] to chase aftobir [afˈtɔbir] to send aftok [afˈtɔk̚] be silent aftok [afˈtɔk] to stay (still); to remain aftonang [afˈtɔnaŋ] to make sit afun mifi [aˈfun ˈmifi] to dream afun nirin [ˈafun ˈnirin] to make a sound afuna [aˈfuna] to do; to make afutir [aˈfutir] to search for agaris [aˈɡaris] to draw a line agepi [aˈɡepi] to clamp agigit [aˈɡiɡit̚] to peel agogo [aˈɡoɡo] fine silk-like threads in different colors used to make fish lures agot [aˈɡɔt̚] 1. to replant 2. to make a ditch agunting [aˈɡuntiŋ] to cut with scissors aguri [aˈɡuri] to cut marks ahalar [aˈhalar] to marry someone; to be married ahunirin [ahuˈnirin] to call ai [ˈai] tree; wood ai dekdekar [ai dekˈdekar] dead wood ai lebleba [ai ˌlebˈleba] burden stick ai patang [ai ˈpataŋ], [ai ˈpatan] tree stem ai tawan [ai ˈtawan] gum tree; eucalyptus ai tukar [ˈai ˈtukar] tree stump ain [ain] tree; plant ainggar [aˈiŋɡar] to float air [ˈair] to shave airit [aˈirit̚] fto all aitik [aˈitik̚] to scoop ajaga [aˈɟaɡa] to guard akabai [akaˈbai] defecate akabar [aˈkabar] to cramp akabom [akaˈbom] wet akabong [akaˈbɔŋ] akabus [aˈkabus] blunt akafar [aˈkafar] to spread out akafi [aˈkafi] to fly akafisan [akaˈfisan] weak akaiar [aˈkaiar] to curse akait [aˈkait̚] to snatch; to hook; to pull; to harvest with a hook akaluar [akaˈluar] to go out; to leave akanal [akaˈnal] to know akanata [kaˈnata] to carry a child akani [aˈkani] to dig akanusi [akaˈnusi] to take off clothes (children); to be taken off akapanik [akaˈpanik̚] to turn upside down akapara [akaˈpara] to carry on shoulders akapasi [akaˈpasi] to sneeze akapitik [akaˈpitik̚] to jump akapunin [akaˈpunin] to hide akarakaf [akaˈrakaf] to be itchy akaruk [ˈkaruk̚] to mix (up); to touch akatam [akaˈtam] to pinch akatof [akaˈtɔf] to shoot akatok [akaˈtɔk̚] to open akatubak [akaˈtubak̚] to close akebak [aˈkebak̚] to sow akedir [aˈkedir] to kill lice by pressing them against a piece of wood or between fingernails akei [aˈkei] to pull or drag something heavy (a canoe, wood) landwards akelat [aˈkelat̚] to know akeri [aˈkeri] to scatch akerja [kerˈɟa], [karˈɟa] to work akes [aˈkes] to break a part off a bigger whole aketa [aˈketa] to pick up (a person) akifir [aˈkifir] to sweep akikir [aˈkikir] to sharpen (of saw, spear, snatch hook); to grate akobaf [aˈkobaf] rotten (root vegetables) akobas [aˈkɔbas] to skin a rotten fruit, or to push a nut or fruit out of its skin after soaking it in (hot) water akorat [aˈkɔrat̚] to block; to be blocked akori [aˈkori] light akuabar [aˈkwabar] to squeeze hard akubung [aˈkubuŋ] to waft insence on the koran after praying, or waft fumes onto someone to drive away evil spirits akubur [aˈkubur] to bury akupan [aˈkupan] to cover; to be covered akutar [aˈkutar] to tie up one's hair in a bun or ponytail alafa [aˈlafa] to wait alakas [aˈlakas] bent, coiled alalaf [aˈlalaf] to return alewat [aˈlewat] to pass alimar [aˈlimar] to sharpen alipa [aˈlipa] to fold aloka [aˈlɔka] to shake alolik [aˈlɔlik̚] to lie ama [ma] come amalaf [aˈmalaf] to yawn amama [aˈmama] to chew amami [aˈmami] 1PL.EX.POSS amanif [ˈmanif] to laugh amanyanyi [amaˈɲaɲi] to sing amarak [aˈmarak̚] dry amasalau [amasaˈlau] 1SG alone amasami [amaˈsami] 1PL.EX alone amata [aˈmata] dead; die amau [aˈmau] to want amdekar [amˈdekar] dry amdidi [amˈdidi] boiling amdirin [amˈdirin] cold amduar [amˈduar] to float filled with water (like a half-sunken canoe) amdufak [amˈdufak] to forget amengerti [ˈamɛŋɡɛrˈti] to understand amges [amˈɡɛs] to be enough; to reach; to fit amgor [amˈɡɔr] to shout ami [ˈami] 1PL.EX amian [aˈmian] 1. to live; to stay 2. exist amifi [aˈmifi] to dream amina [aˈmina] at; to be at amindike [aˌmɪndiˈke] here amke [amˈkɛ] here amnangga [amˈnaŋga] to steal amnipis [amˈnipis] thin amois [aˈmois] is cut; is broken amorat [aˈmorat] narrow ampuan [amˈpuan] place; area amrepa [amˈrepa] to be felled; to be collapsed amrera [amˈrera] scattered; scattered around amris [amˈris] is ripped amrok [amˈrɔk] to scatter amsasak [amˈsasak̚] cooked amsupin [amˈsupin] pierced; with a hole amtauk [amˈtauk̚] to be scared; to be afraid; to fear amtaut [amˈtaut] to be scared (of); to be afraid (of); to fear amtonang [amˈtɔnaŋ] sit amtua [amˈtua] old; ripe amusi [aˈmusi] to kiss amuta [aˈmuta] to vomit amutin [aˈmutin] to be burnt anarat [aˈnarat] to bite anawak [aˈnawak̚] to dive anedin [aˈnedin] to pluck anefa [aˈnefa] to fathom anesik [aˈnesik] to unplug; to take something out or from around of a narrow space (cap of a pen, two stacked glasses, plug, contact) anggait [aŋˈɡait̚] to reach; until anggara [aŋˈɡara] basket anggarori [aŋgaˈrori] blaze; shine anggomit [aŋˈɡomit] rotten (wood, cloth) anggor [aŋˈɡɔr] to break angguret [aŋɡuˈrɛt] stranded anum [aˈnum] to swallow anunggi [aˈnuŋɡi] 1sg.poss anunin [aˈnunin] to fold anunin [aˈnunin] to wake someone apakas [aˈpakas] to explode; to break apaku [aˈpaku] to nail apangga [aˈpaŋɡa] to hit apaning [aˈpaniŋ] to turn oneself apapan [aˈpapan] to catch fish with poison, by adding poisonous tree sap to the water apara [aˈpara] swell aparang [aˈparaŋ] hot (weather) apare [apaˈre] to know apasang [aˈpasaŋ] to install; to put apatar [aˈpatar] to stay up late apawa [aˈpawa] to split; to break apeik [aˈpeik] to spit out apele [aˈpele] to block apenik [aˈpenik] to sell apenpeni [apɛnˈpeni] to play apesa [aˈpesa] travel by boat apias [aˈpias] to break or cut something from a bigger whole, like cutting the rough shape of a canoe, or breaking off the edge of a cookie apinjam [aˈpinɟam] to borrow apona [aˈpona] as; like apoti [aˈpɔti] to go downhill; to come out of a building (almost all buildings have few steps down to the ground) apuak [aˈpuak̚] to open; to turn something's face or front up or forward; to turn one's face apuka [aˈpuka] to fell apupis [aˈpupis] to open apura [aˈpura] to flee; to run; to get away apurak [aˈpurak̚] to shoo apuri [aˈpuri] to wash apurik [aˈpurik̚] rotten aputi [aˈputi] to gather arafi [aˈrafi] straight(ened) aragaji [araˈɡaɟi] aragaji [araˈɡaɟi] saw arain [aˈrain] a lot aranggit [aˈraŋɡit] much aranggit [aˈraŋɡit] to wrap tightly arapis [aˈrapis] to roll; to tie with thread arara [aˈrara] to carry arekar [aˈrekar] cry areking [aˈrekiŋ] to count arera [aˈrera] to splash aresi [aˈresi] to exceed aret [aˈrɛt] to tie ari [ˈari] person arikat [aˈrikat̚] to join; to follow aris [aˈris] to rip arok [ˈarɔk̚] to beat arorat [aˈrɔrat̚] to slice arorobir [arɔˈrɔbir] slave arota [aˈrɔta] to get down/out aruna [aˈruna] to let something down on a rope arupir [aˈrupir] to boil aruri [aˈruri] swim arut [aˈrut̚ ] to hug arut [aˈrut̚] to catch arwa [arˈwa] to sleep arwawa [arwaˈwa] sleep asa [aˈsa] ascend asalik [aˈsalik̚] to circumcise; to be circumcised asambung [aˈsambuŋ] to connect asanak [aˈsanak̚] to open; to take off asandar [aˈsandar] to dock asandar [aˈsandar] to lean asapan [aˈsapan] to cut through (forest) asapin [aˈsapin] to pass over something asapit [aˈsapit̚] to sharpen (of wood or bamboo); to make pointy asar [ˈasar] asr (the afternoon prayer) asarit [aˈsarit̚] to cut off wood asei [aˈsei] to throw asei [aˈsei] to flow aseik [aˈseik̚] to fill aseka [aˈseka] hasa asekseka [asekˈseka] hugging the coast aserin [aˈserin] to change clothing asibur [aˈsibur] to poke asikokir [asiˈkɔkir] to disturb; to mix asinggar [aˈsiŋɡar] to sharpen (of knives, axes, machetes) asinggat [aˈsiŋɡat̚] to plug asinggaut [asiŋˈɡaut̚] to caught; tangled asinggonggar [asiŋˈɡɔŋɡar] to struggle; to squirm asipit [aˈsipit̚] to unfasten asirarit [asiˈrarit̚] to slide; to slip asirera [asiˈrera] to feel in the dark asiri [aˈsiri] to buy on credit asiruri [asiˈruri] to dry in the fire askap [ˈaskap̚] to plane asobang [aˈsɔbaŋ] to send; to order asofa [aˈsɔfa] to bathe asoin [aˈsoin] to push; to enter something asomut [aˈsɔmut̚] to boil asonggat [aˈsɔŋɡat̚] to smoke; to suck asor [aˈsɔr] to sew; to weave asosa [aˈsɔsa] to whittle or chop something cilindrical, like a pen; also, to clean e.g. a branch or tikal leaf of its thorns, get rid of sharp edges asua [aˈsua] to go backwards; to return asuan [aˈsuan] to plant (a plant, stick or pole) asuarik [asuˈarik̚] to scatter asuban [asuˈban] to fish with a rod asuban [aˈsuban] to curse someone asula [aˈsula] to dance (traditionally) asuni [aˈsuni] to spoon asuni [aˈsuni] to search for lobster asupin [aˈsupin] to pierce asurat [aˈsurat̚] to talk angrily asusi [aˈsusi] to give birth asusun [aˈsusun] to heap ataba [aˈtaba] to skewer atabrak [aˈtabrak̚] to crash into atada [aˈtada] to collect water atafeda [ataˈfeda] to throw (away) atagaris [ataˈɡaris] scratched atalapis [ataˈlapis] to pres atalinggir [ataˈliŋɡir] to make slope/slant atalipa [ataˈlipa] folded atanam [aˈtanam] to hear; to listen atang [ˈataŋ] atapar [aˈtapar] to fish with a fishing line atapin [aˈtapin] to burn atapin uma [aˈtapin ˈuma] to burn land atapuak [ataˈpuak̚] be opened atara [aˈtara] to cut; to chop atarbugan [atarˈbuɡan] blunt atarbuka [atarˈbuka] spilled atargupak [atarˈɡupak̚] to turn upside down atari [aˈtari] to bring atarkes [atarˈkes] split atarpani [atarˈpani] to return; to turn around atarpanik [atarˈpanik̚] to turn atarpupis [atarˈpupis] opened atarsanak [atarˈsanak̚] opened atarsinggat [atarˈsiŋɡat̚] plugged atarsipit [atarˈsipit̚] unfastened atarsumbat [atarˈsumbat̚] plugged atatak [aˈtatak̚] to leave be atawar [ˈtawar] to give water when someone is ill (perhaps: medicinate) atei [aˈtei] to step on atei [aˈtei] to weave atein [aˈtein] to cut; to prune atemar [aˈtemar] to drown atepak [aˈtepak] to stab atepei [atɛˈpei] to kick with the footsole straight ahead ater [ˈatɛr] to cough aterik [aˈterik] to rest atetal [aˈtetal] to cut finely atewa [aˈtewa] to hit with fist atipak [aˈtipak̚] to be full atipan [aˈtipaŋ] to cover atnabak [atˈnabak̚] to soak atno [atˈnɔ] go seawards ato [aˈtɔ] descend atobat [aˈtɔbat̚] to repent atolas [aˈtɔlas] to fast atoma [aˈtɔma] to sail against the wind atonggar [aˈtɔŋɡar] to pull; to lead atopi [aˈtopi] to wash atua [aˈtua] to fish with sinkers atubak [aˈtubak̚] to touch; to reach atubi [aˈtubi] 1. to pound 2. to grow atuka [aˈtuka] to peck atukar [aˈtukar] to swap atulis [aˈtulis] to write atuni [aˈtuni] 1. to cook 2. to shoot atur [ˈatur] to pierce aturan [aˈturan] to ride with the waves atuti [aˈtuti] to pound; to bump into aula [ˈaula] god aular [aˈular] to bathe (tr.) aum [ˈaum] a kind of fish aur [aˈura] to help ausak [aˈusak̚] to wipe; to rub ausir [aˈusir] to chase away aut [aˈut] to pull out; to weed (by pulling out, not by cutting) awaka [aˈwaka] to erect; to build awala [aˈwala] to throw a stick to get fruit from a tree awanang [aˈwanaŋ] to fell awanggi [aˈwaŋɡi] to give awapar [aˈwapar] ripe awara [aˈwara] to go uphill; to enter a building (almost all buildings are raised a few steps from the ground) awatak [aˈwatak̚] to take care of awetik [aˈwetik] to chop awewak [aˈwewak] to linefish B b baba [ˈbaba] father babair [baˈbair] before babair [baˈbair] first babarak [baˈbarak̚] fried baf [baf] a kind of grouper bagi [ˈbaɡi] to divide; to share bahala [baˈhala] disaster bak [bak̚] water container baku [ˈbaku] reciprocal Baladan [baˈladan] The Netherlands balak [ˈbalak̚] balok balakan [baˈlakan] behind balarang [baˈlaraŋ] hot (variant of ablarang) barbarak [barˈbarak] fried baru [ˈbaru] and Batirari [batiˈrari] Batirari batorin [baˈtorin] thick batun [ˈbatun] parrotfish bawang petpetin [ˈbawaŋ pɛtˈpetin] garlic be [bɛ] 1. where 2. which 3. indefinite marker bebak [ˈbebak] duck bebar [ˈbebar] to be hungry bebin [ˈbebin] skin of fruit; shell of mollusc or nut beda [beˈda] machete bedengan [beˈdɛŋɡan] seed bed ber [bɛr] place to smoke-dry bersi [bɛrˈsi] to clean bi [bi] or biar [ˈbiar] even if biasa [biˈasa] normal(ly); to be used to bibitong [bibiˈtoŋ] butterfly bil [bil] axe binatang [biˈnataŋ] animal bintang [ˈbintaŋ] tub birbirun [birˈbirun] blue bisa [ˈbisa] can bo [bɔ] 1. but 2. and bobar [ˈbobar] 1. to be fast 2. to shake boda [ˈboda] 1. stupid 2. very boit [ˈboit] yet; still bola [ˈbola] ball bom [bɔm] wasp Bomborai [bomˈborai] Bomberai, officially the peninsula that "embraces" the Karas Islands. Local speakers sually intend the northern part of the peninsula, where the village Bomberai is situated. botal [ˈbɔtal] bottle buak [ˈbuak̚] betel buak patin [buok ˈpatin] betel nut; areca buka [ˈbuka] monitor lizard; goanna buku [ˈbuku] book bulai langit [ˈbulai ˈlaŋit̚] a kind of coastal plant bumi [ˈbumi] earth bunbunin [bunˈbunin] body hair bunbunin [bunˈbunin] feather bunga [ˈbuŋa] flower bunga bibitong [ˈbuŋa bibiˈtɔŋ] bastard valerian bunin [ˈbunin] feather bur [bur] to be strong (wind/rain) busir [ˈbusir] salawaku C c can [ʧan] widower cangga [ˈʧaŋɡa] bird of paradise capi ceran [ˈʧapi ˈʧeran] sweet potato Capmatan [ʧapˈmatan] Capmatan, the name of a cape close to the village Kiaba. Also called Kiapmatan or Kiaba Matan. cat [ʧat̚] to paint cengke [ˈʧɛŋkɛ] cloves cicaf [ciˈcaf] alone; one cor [cɔr] to cast D d da [da] 1. relativizer 2. then 3. so daging [ˈdagiŋ] flesh; meat daka [daˈka] that; there daldala [dalˈdala] a kind of shell damalelat [damaˈlelat̚] a kind of tree damat [daˈmat̚] 1. a kind of tree 2. garfish; longtom dapur [ˈdapur] kitchen dari [ˈdari] general term for fishing net with some kind of enclosure dedar [ˈdedar] a kind of tree defa [ˈdefa] yellow taro dekdekar [dɛkˈdekar] dry demtotir [dɛmˈtotir] all di [di] 1SG.REL di ke [di ˈke] this; here dika [ˈdika] dikir [ˈdikir] Mawlid (festival commemorating the birthday of Muhammad) dim [dim] a kind of big earring, used as part of bride price. Still worn by the Buruwai. dinding [ˈdindiŋ] wall dirang [ˈdiraŋ] sereh dirin [ˈdirin] wind do ko [do ˈko] that doa [doʕa] prayer dododak [dɔˈdɔdak̚] food without its usual accompaniments, e.g. tea without a sweet, rice without fish or vegetables doko [ˈdɔkɔ] that; there dokter [ˈdoktɛr] doctor doman [ˈdɔman] shell duang [ˈduaŋ] parrotfish dudin [ˈdudin] 1. thunder 2. cockroach dudin atara [ˈdudin aˈtara] earthquake dum [dum] 1. many 2. amount dupan [ˈdupan] 1. seat in canoe; place to hang things onto in a canoe 2. "chest" of the canoe, a stage in the making of a canoe, this chest is cut off duran [ˈduran] durian duran bali [ˈduran ˈbali] sirsak E e efi [ˈɛfi] 1. not yet 2. still eh [ɛ] 1. interjection of confirmation 2. hey eis [eis] unfortunately embir [ˈɛmbir] bucket eraf [ˈeraf] centipede eraf nifanua [ˈɛraf ˌnifaˈnua] a kind of centipede eran [ˈeran] can erik [ˈerik] seed et [ˈɛt] anchor etam [ˈetam] parent or child in law F f fafan [ˈfafan] plank Fafuran [faˈfuran] Fafuran, placename on the east side of the south-eastern Karas island fakat [ˈfakat̚] chisel fakein [faˈkein] well fakurat [fakuˈrat̚] to destroy fam [fam] clan fan [fan] bait fangfanggus [faŋˈfaŋɡus] flute fanggat [ˈfaŋɡat] 1. handspan 2. to measure handspans fanono [faˈnɔnɔ] order fara [ˈfara] ironwood; merbau fara pakpakas nifan [ˈfara pak̚ˈpakas ˈnifan] a kind of tree fari [ˈfari] ray fari mana [ˈfari ˈmana] a kind of ray faruar [faˈruar] middle fasa [ˈfasa] rice (husked; cooked; uncooked) fasfasa [fasˈfasa] buying fat [fat̚] four fateter [fatɛˈtɛr] slow fatfatar [fatˈfatar] raised platform fatobtobir [fatɔbˈtobir] parcel; package; someting one sends fauar [faˈuar] news Faur [ˈfaur] Faur, name of the northern village on the southeastern Karas island fayoi [faˈjoi] good; well ferekreka [ferekˈreka] to think fes [fɛs] grass; brush fesfes [fɛsˈfɛs] weed fian [ˈfian] be good fira [ˈfira] how much/many fisik [ˈfisik̚] 1. short 2. part 3. some fodan [ˈfodan] tikal leaf plant fodan wakar [ˈfodan ˈwakar] tikal root fodanwatan [fodanˈwatan] a kind of tikal leaf plant fosfosan [fosˈfosan] ritual fum [fum] vagina fusal [ˈfusal] navel futar [ˈfutar] 1. to turn 2. to play (song) futfutir [futˈfutir] searching G g gafafi [ɡaˈfafi] gain [ˈɡain] 1. hill 2. stalk gala [ˈɡala] spear gala momoi [ˈɡala moˈmoi] a kind of grasshopper; spider galang [ɡaˈlaŋ] armband galas [ɡaˈlas] glass gama [ˈɡama] good smell gamaing [ɡaˈmaiŋ] spirit gambus [ˈɡambus] a kind of round guitar made from wood, with 4 or 5 strings garai [ɡaˈrai] scabies garang [ˈɡaraŋ] name gargaji [ɡarˈɡaɟi] to saw garis [ˈɡaris] lighter genggeng [gɛŋˈgɛŋ] skinny; fruitless tree geram [ˈgɛram] bitter gergerin [ɡɛrˈɡɛrin] flank gergerin taban [ɡɛrɡɛrin ˈtaban] rib giawas [ɡiˈawas] a kind of tree gigira [ɡiɡiˈra] yesterday gigirasa [ɡiɡiraˈsa] day before yesterday gigiwang [ɡiˈɡiwaŋ] earrings giras [ˈɡiras] a kind of wood go [ɡɔ] approximately gogit [ˈɡɔɡit̚ ] a kind of tree gonggong [ˈɡɔŋɡɔŋ] to bark goni [ˈɡoni] sack Goran [ˈɡoran] Gorom gorif [ˈɡorif] a kind of fish got [ɡɔt̚] ditch guaban [ˈɡwaban] shoulder guabir [ˈɡwabir] a kind of fish guaintuni [ɡwanˈtuni] morning guam [ˈɡuam] sea weed guama kikit [ˈɡuama ˈkikit̚] a kind of fish gudang [ˈɡudaŋ] barn; shed gugir [ˈɡuɡir] to make noise gulasi [ɡuˈlasi] lengkuas, a kind of galangal gunting [ˈɡuntiŋ] scissor gunting [ˈɡuntiŋ] a kind of beam guranggain [ɡuraŋˈɡain] neck gureri [ɡuˈreri] squirrelfish; soldierfish guru [ˈɡuru] teacher gusi [ˈɡusi] vase H h hajat [ˈhaɟat̚] feast halus [ˈhalus] smooth harap [ˈharap̚] to hope hari [ˈhari] day hatam [ˈhatam] a curse hatib [haˈtib] preacher haus [ˈhaus] to be thirsty hawatil [haˈwatir] to fear; to worry he [hɛ] right; confirmation-seeking interjection heran [ˈhɛran] to be surprised hes [se], [hɛs], [uˈsɛh] interjection for shooing away an animal hijo [ˈhiɟɔ] green hukat [ˈhukat̚] net hurma [hurˈma] star I i iblis [ˈiblis] evil ghost Ibos [ˈibɔs] Ibos, name of a beach on the east coast of the southeastern Karas island idei [iˈdei] beach; sand ideinasing [ideiˈnasin] beach Ideipurin [ideiˈpurin] Ideipurin, a beach close to Malakuli idif [ˈidif] needle ifora [iˈfora] dog ih [ɪ] interjection of surprise (negative?); yech imi [ˈimi] 2pl imimi [iˈmimi] 2pl.poss imisia [imiˈsia] 3sg alone; self imisimi [imiˈsimi] you (pl.) alone inang [ˈinaŋ] sago Inggrisnirin [iŋɡrɪsˈnirin] English (language) ini [ˈini] 3sg.poss irfosi [irˈfɔsi] a kind of trevally irok [iˈrɔk̚] shark is [is] my god isawan [iˈsawan] skipjack tuna isin [ˈisin] body isin minak tai [ˈisin minak tai] don't feel good isin unit [ˈisin ˈunit̚] skin isir [ˈisir] to ask isis [iˈsis] a kind of ray istenga mati [isˈteŋa ˈmati] difficult; cumbersome; tiring istigafar [istiɡaˈfar] istighfar, an Islamic word used as interjection of surprise ita [ˈita] 1PL.IN ita masita [itamaˈsita] 1PL.IN alone itanena [itaˈnena] 1PL.IN.POSS itanua [itaˈnua] 1DU.EX itar [ˈitar] bristletooth; surgeonfish itar birbirun [ˈitar birˈbirun] a kind of bristletooth or surgeonfish iya [ˈija] yes iyo [ˈijo] yes J j jabul [ˈɟabul] to be lazy; to not feel like doing something jadi [ˈʤadi] 1. so; then 2. to become jam [ɟam] hour jandela [ɟanˈdela] window janji [ˈɟanɟi] 1. promise; agreement 2. to promise jarutu [ɟaˈrutu] 1. light sinker 2. to fish with a light sinker such as feathers or coconut leaf with a stone, such that the hook "swims" through the water jati [ˈɟati] a kind of tree jawab [ˈɟawab̚] to answer jembatan [ɟembatan] dock jendela [ʤɛnˈdela] joget [ˈʤoɡət̚] dance jualan [ɟuˈalan] food to sell juta [ˈʤuta] million K k ka [ka] dist kaba [ˈkaba] a kind of tree, its bark is used for poisoning fish kabak [ˈkabak̚] sail; sailcloth kabas [ˈkabas] thread kabeka [kaˈbeka] left kaberan [kaˈberaŋ] kaberang [kaˈberaŋ] spit kabil [ˈkabil] cable kabinin [kaˈbinin] piggy bank kabisak [kaˈbisak̚] mud kacang [ˈkacaŋ] bean kadera [kaˈdera] chair kafusin [kaˈfusin] to flower; to bloom kafusing [kaˈfusiŋ] flower kai [ˈkai] medicine kai dokdoka [ˈkai dokˈdoka] a kind of shell kai kala [ˈkai ˈkala] West Indian pea kai kapas [ˈkai ˈkapas] cotton kai manis [ˌkaiˈmanis] cinnamon kai modar [ˈkai ˈmodar] daun gedi kai nasi [ˈkai ˈnasi] pineapple Kaimana [kaiˈmana] Kaimana, a city in southern West Papua province kakait [kaˈkait̚] hook kakawa [kaˈkawa] grasshopper kalar [ˈkalar] 1. ready 2. to make ready kalifan [ˈkalifan] mat, coarsely woven kalolan [kaˈlɔlan] plumb rule kalomlomin [kalomˈlomin] unripe kamang [kaˈmaŋ] medicine Kambala [kamˈbala] Kambala, a place on the mainland kame [ˈkame] dist kamese [kaˈmese] dist kamimi [kaˈmimi] 1. urine 2. to urinate kamung [kaˈmuŋ] steel kan [kan] yknow Kanabaraf [kanaˈbaraf] Kanabaraf, a place above Wamartupin, where Kiaba people have gardens kanambo [kanamˈbɔ] after that kananggiar [kanaŋˈɡiar] a kind of bamboo, used among other things for making party tents kananoning [kanaˈnɔniŋ] betel nut leaf kanari [kaˈnari] pili nut Canarium ovatum kanasa [kaˈnasa] bulana kanawa [kaˈnawa] a kind of tree kancil [ˈkancil] mouse deer kanus [kaˈnus] ancestor kapal [ˈkapal] ship kapala [kaˈpala] house kapatar [kaˈpatar] 1. a kind of insect 2. larvae (from flies) kapatpatar [kapatˈpatar] giant trevally kapepe [kapeˈpe] cardinalfish kaperat [kaˈperat̚] heavy kapuak [kaˈpuak̚] mung beans kapuak bali [kaˈpuak̚ ˈbali] a kind of legume kapuak narnaran [kaˈpuak̚ narˈnaran] a kind of legume, similar to kidney beans kapuk [ˈkapuk̚] kapok, a tree with cotton-like fluff kapuni [kaˈpuni] 1. a small kind of bamboo 2. arrow shaft karakaf [kaˈrakaf] crab karakaf aum [kaˈrakaf aˈum] lobster karangan [kaˈraŋan] near Karas [ˈkaras] Karas, name of three islands in Sebakor Bay karawaka [karaˈwaka] Tahitian chestnut kariapeng [ˌkariˈapɛŋ] dust; fine earth; ash karja [karˈɟa] work karkaran [karˈkaran] bamboo floor karna [ˈkarna] because kasabita [kasaˈbita] squash kasar [ˈkasar] rough kasian [kaˈsian] poor thing; what a shame kasowari [ˌkasoˈwari; kasaˈwari] cassowary kastela [kasˈtela] corn; maize kasuk [kaˈsuk̚] (older and/or respected) man; husband kasuk kamang [kaˈsuk̚ kaˈmaŋ] medicine man katatawak [kataˈtawak̚] a kind of fish katkataf [katˈkataf] pieces of wood to pin down thatched roof (i.e. on top of the leaves) katof [kaˈtɔf] arrow kator [kaˈtor] hermit crab katua [kaˈtua] cockatoo katuak [kaˈtuak̚] to be full of weed katuki [kaˈtuki] a kind of shell kawat [ˈkawat̚] wire kawer [ˈkawer] land; earth; soil kawer narnaran [kaˈwɛr narˈnaran] clay kayakat [kaˈjakat̚] bamboo wall ke [kɛ] proximal kedukedu [akɛduˈkedu] to use a certain fishing technique keka [ˈkeka] child keken [ˈkekɪn] chin kelat [ˈkelat̚] mark kena [ˈkena] grandfather kerang [ˈkeraŋ] turtle ketel [ˈkɛʈɛl; ˈketal] kettle Kiaba [ˈkjaba] Kiaba, name of a village on the south-eastern Karas island kiar [ˈkiar] mat, finely woven kibakar [kiˈbakar] beams on an outrigger canoe parallel to the boat, in between the boat and the float, to strengthen the construction kibi [ˈkibi] sea cucumber kibi asas nenang [ˈkibi ˈasas ˈnenaŋ] a kind of sea cucumber kibi buka [kibi ˈbuka] a kind of sea cucumber kibi kur narnaran [kibi kur narˈnaran] a kind of sea cucumber kibi laflafan [kibi lafˈlafan] a kind of sea cucumber kibi sansanam [kibi sanˈsanam] a kind of sea cucumber kibi songgarati [kibi soŋɡaˈrati] a kind of sea cucumber kibi songgarati narnaran [ˈkibi soŋɡaˈrati narˈnaran] a kind of sea cucumber kibi tuni [kibi ˈtuni] a kind of sea cucumber kifin [ˈkifin] mosquito kifkifir wain [kifˈkifir wain] broom kilo [ˈkilɔ] kilo Kilo [ˈkilɔ] nickname for district capital kiribunit [kiriˈbunit̚] scoop (for emptying canoe) kis [kis] jambu Kisiwui [kisiˈui] Kisiwui, a placename in Maluku ko [kɔ] that; distal kodaf [ˈkodaf] betel container, or a plate with offerings like betel, lime, oil, coins kodaf [ˈkodaf] to offer smoke or betel nut kofat [ˈkofat̚] Mallee fowl kofir [ˈkofir] coffee kofkofat [kofˈkɔfat̚] grouper koin [ˈkoin] older; eldest (sibling, child) koir [ˈkoir] a kind of bird kokam [ˈkokam] whale Kokas [ˈkɔkas] Kokas koker [ˈkokɛr; ˈkɔkir] 1. seedling bag 2. to put in seedling bag kokok [kɔˈkɔk̚] chicken koma [ˈkoma] dark komanian [komaˈnian] incense komkoma [komˈkɔma] black komkomur [komˈkɔmur] cucumber korkor [korˈkɔr] a kind of fish korkor nan [korkɔrˈnan] kind of fish korkor neti [korkor ˈneti] sweetlips, a kind of fish korkori [korˈkori] light kortas [kɔrˈtas] paper kosar [ˈkosar] mace kotor [ˈkotor] dirty kr kokok [krː kokok] interjection used for calling chickens kuaman [kuˈaman] bream or emperor, a kind of fish kuaman nan [kuˈaman nan] kind of bream or emperor, a kind of fish kuaman neti [kuamaˈneti] kind of bream or emperor, a kind of fish kubur [ˈkubur] grave kuda [ˈkuda] horse kudakuda [kudaˈkuda] a plank in the back of a canoe, where the motor is attached kudedir [kuˈdedir] a kind of plant kuerin [kuˈɛrin] tongue kukis [ˈkukis] cake; cookies kukuada [kuˈkwada] small shrimp kukuser [kukuˈser] parrot kulaba [kuˈlaba] a kind of ray kumar [ˈkumar] sachet kuning [ˈkuniŋ] yellow kur [kur] resin kuraf [ˈkuraf] dolphin kurungkurung [kuruŋˈkuruŋ] fish container kutena [kuˈtena] papaya kutkutar [kutˈkutar] bun (hair) L l labang [ˈlabaŋ] to visit labat [ˈlabat̚] wounded lablabat [labˈlabat̚] 1. wound 2. wounded ladan [ˈladan] shirt laf [laf] just; only lafan [ˈlafan] fishing line lafi [ˈlafi] fire lafi koma [ˈlafi ˈkoma] ash lafi nanak [ˈlafi nanak̚] burnt lafi wain [ˈlafi ˈwain] fireplace lafur [ˈlafur] lime lagergera [laɡɛrˈɡera] coral rock; coral reef lagu [ˈlaɡu] song lakar [ˈlakar] to weave lakir [ˈlakir] to crawl lalak [ˈlalak̚] small laman koin [ˈlaman ˈkoin] uncle, father’s elder brother laman lalak [ˈlaman ˈlalak] uncle, father’s younger brother lamari [laˈmari] closet lampu [ˈlampu] lamp; electricity lampur [ˈlampur] lamp langit [ˈlaŋit̚] sky lanlana [lanˈlana] bubara lanunggi [laˈnuŋɡi] 1SG.POSS lar [lar] garden fence lasi [ˈlasi] dog lasin [ˈlasin] butt latan [ˈlatan] lungs lau [ˈlau] 1sg leba [ˈleba] imam lebai [leˈbai] it's better if lepir [ˈlepir] roof rafter leplepa [lepaˈlepa] wooden canoe les [lɛs] a plank in the bow of a canoe les plan [lɛsˈplan] board to close off roof lilin [ˈlilin] candle linggis [ˈliŋɡis] dibble stick lirang [ˈliraŋ] a kind of beam used in house construction litir [ˈlitir] litre lohar [ˈlɔhar] dhuhr (midday) prayer lolak [ˈlɔlak̚] lola, a kind of shell that at times is harvested to sell luas [ˈluas] wide lufain [luˈfain] traditional fireplace; traditional oven lurus [ˈlurus] straight lusi [ˈlusi] eagle; kite (typically used for Brahmini kite, the most common type in the area) lusi namnamin [ˈlusi namˈnamin] a kind of plant M m mada [ˈmada] bat magarip [ˈmaɡrip̚] maghrib magaruk [maˈɡaruk̚] scratched magawait [maɡaˈwait̚] donation (e.g. to help people organize a party) mahar [ˈmahar] dowry makam [ˈmakam] (be in?) shadow makanini [makaˈnini] citrus fruit makes [maˈkɛs] a kind of fish makmak [makˈmak̚] fruit fly makof [maˈkɔf] leech malakat [malaˈkat̚] a lot Malakuli [malaˈkuli] Malakuli, name of the district capital of Karas malu [ˈmalu] shy; ashamed mamin [ˈmamin] a kind of fish manado [maˈnadɔ] taro Manamban [maˈnamaŋ] Manamban, placename on the east side of the southeastern Kiaba island manawas [maˈnawas] long mancia [manˈcia] person; people mancia sopsobang [manˈcia sopˈsobaŋ] servant manenggal [maˈneŋɡal] to be quiet; to be deserted mangadap [maˈŋadap̚] to face mangan [ˈmaŋan] sharp mangan tai [ˈmaŋan tai] blunt; dull mangarat [maˈŋarat̚] a kind of tokay that likes to crawl in the leaves manggo [maŋˈɡɔ] banana manggo fafan [maŋɡɔ ˈfafan] a kind of banana manggo ner putifat [maŋɡo ner putiˈfat] a kind of banana manggo salen [maŋɡo saˈlɛn] a kind of banana manggo sarafua [maɳˈɡɔ saraˈfua] a kind of banana manik [ˈmanik̚] bird manikmanik [ˌmanikˈmanik̚] beads maniktapuri [maˌniktaˈpuri] crown pigeon manonaf [maˈnɔnaf] a kind of ray manonan [maˈnɔnan] to be correct; to be straight mantega [manˈteɡa] butter; margarine mapata [maˈpata] woman marabot [maraˈbɔt̚] janitor marawan [maˈrawan] to clean; to clear; to be cleared (of land) maresan [maˈresan] chilli maresresar [marɛsˈresar] very hard maret [maˈrɛt] much; many marwana [marˈwana] man marwanas [marˈwanas] men Mas [mas] Mas, a village on the biggest Karas island masi [ˈmasi] smoke masikit [maˈsikit̚] mosque masing [ˈmasiŋ] to be salty maskut [masˈkut̚] sweat masos [maˈsɔs] (of the soil) to slide; landslide masuk [ˈmasuk̚] to enter masupin [maˈsupin] hole matabulang [mataˈbulaŋ] a kind of shell matafasi [mataˈfasi] women matan [ˈmatan] 1. edge 2. time 3. cape matananam [mataˈnanam] face matapuan [mataˈpuan] eye matapuan buti [mataˈpuan ˈbuti] to be blind matmatak [matˈmatak̚] uncooked; raw matmatawanas [matmataˈwanas] people that have been dead for more than 10-15 years matontonang [matɔnˈtɔnaŋ] sitting mayor [maˈjɔr] custom leader me [mɛ], [mɛk] interjection used for calling goats meing [meiŋ] oil; fuel; benzine meing tuni [meiŋ ˈtuni] frying oil; coconut oil meja [ˈmeʤa] table mek [mɛk̚] goat mengan [ˈmɛŋan] a little more metar [ˈmetar] all (modifying quantities) meti abubit [ˈmeti aˈbubit] high tide; rising tide meti amarak anggaros [meti aˈmarak aŋɡaˈros] very low tide meti pus [ˈmeti pus] tide about to rise meti ruaf sinei [ˈmeti ˈruaf sinˈei] very high tide meti tapin akabom [mɛt ˈtapin akaˈbom] tide about to go down mimbar [ˈmimbar] podium in mosque min [min] louse; flea minak [ˈminak̚] 1. sweet 2. fat minlen [minˈlɛn] elder woman; wife minminak [minˈminak̚] a kind of green tokay mobil [ˈmɔbil] car mojim [ˈmɔʤɪm] muezzin molamola [molaˈmola] a kind of trevally mop [mɔp̚] joke mosim [ˈmosim] season muan [ˈmuan] to eat muk [muk̚] to whisper munin [ˈmunin] the wind-exposed side of an island musu [ˈmusu] enemy N n nadar [ˈnadar] give a gift at the mosque as a way of praying for something you wish for nalam [ˈnalam] a kind of dark-colored trevally naman [ˈnaman] deep namat [aˈnamat] to hold; to grasp; to bring namnamin [namˈnamin] 1. to eat 2. food nan [nan] to eat nana [ˈnana] 1. landside; mainland 2. to get nanak [ˈnanak̚] to burn nanam [ˈnanam] inside; also the safe, non-windy side of an island napas [ˈnapas] breathe nar [nar] widow nara [ˈnara] blood naran [ˈnaran] red nasa [ˈnasa] top; up nasar [ˈnasar] kantung kemaluan nasar patin [nasar ˈpatin] testicles nasi [ˈnasi] sugar nasing [ˈnasiŋ] top; on top of; above nat [nat̚] 1. sister-in-law or brother-in-law 2. seam nat rau [nat ˈrau] seam of canoe nati [ˈnati] king nawan [ˈnawan] liver nawan abur [ˈnawan aˈbur] to be angry nawar [ˈnawar] 1. light; shine; to be turned on 2. day after tomorrow nedat [ˈnedat] to ask nefa [ˈnefa] fathom nem [nɛm] six nemin [ˈnemin] to drink nena [ˈnena] mother nena koin [ˈnena ˈkoin] aunt, mother’s elder sister nena lalak [ˈnena ˈlalak] aunt, mother’s younger sister nenang [ˈnenaŋ] mother nengnenggar [neŋˈneŋɡar] a kind of tree nenmatan [nenˈmatan] 1. forehead 2. way neno [ˈneno] oh lord; wow ner dike [nɛr diˈke] today nera [ˈnera] 1. day 2. sun nera asung [ˈnera ˈasuŋ] sunrise neran [ˈneran] stairs neti [ˈneti] the deep sea, where the land mass steeps down (past the reef edge is there is one) nggosik [ˈŋɡɔsik̚ ] to cut throat ngguekngguek [ŋguekˈŋguek] kind of grasshopper ni [ni] future marker niawa [niˈawa] heart nifan [ˈnifan] 1. teeth 2. away; outside of the village nika [ˈnika] 1. fishing line 2. to marry nika ai [ˈnika ai] holder for fishing line nika toba [ˈnika ˈtoba] holder for fishing line nima [ˈnima] five niman [ˈniman] leg; foot niman pukpukin [ˈniman pukˈpukin] knee niman tapin [ˈniman ˈtapin] heel; sole niri [ˈniri] stick; pole niri kapala [niri kaˈpala] one of the main posts in a house niring [ˈniriŋ] voice; language niringgain [niriŋˈɡain] nose niringgain masupin [niriŋˈgain maˈsupin] nostril nisa [ˈnisa] louse eggs nois [noˈis], [ˈnois] to break; to snap; to cut noken [ˈnokɛn] net bag; woven bag nomba [ˈnɔmba] first non [nɔn] sea; seaside; direction of the sea nonin [ˈnɔnin] leaf nor nawar [nɔr ˈnawar] the next day nora [ˈnɔra] with; and nora patuan [ˈnɔra paˈtuan] pregnant nosir [ˈnosir] to say not [nɔt̚] sarong nua [ˈnua] two numakmengan [numakˈmeŋan] later numit [ˈnumit̚] algae numnumit [numˈnumit̚] fungus nurin [ˈnurin] back nurin sinei [ˈnurin sinei] the whole back nuring [ˈnuriŋ] back nurnur [nurˈnur] a kind of fruit or root nurnurin [nuˈnurin] bones nusa [ˈnusa] mainland nusa matan [nusaˈmatan] edge of cape nusapuan [nusaˈpuan] island nusnenang [nusˈnenaŋ] mainland (from Fakfak to Kaimana) O o o [ɔ] 1. 2SG 2. interjection 3. quotative odak [ˈɔdak̚] all oi [ɔi] hey oke [ˈoke] ok olat [ˈɔlat̚] far omaso [omaˈsɔ] omu [ˈɔmu] 2sg.poss ongkos [ˈɔŋkɔs] expenses opar [ˈɔpar] a kind of root vegetable otin [ˈɔtin] continue(d); past ou [ˈɔu] oh; wow; hey P p pacul [ˈpaʧul] 1. hoe 2. to hoe padi [ˈpadi] rice plant pakas [ˈpakas] banana "branch" paki [ˈpaki] to use pakiang [paˈkiaŋ] clothes paku [ˈpaku] nail pang [paŋ] cliff panggala [paŋˈɡala] cassava panik [ˈpanik̚] 1. also; again 2. other paning [ˈpaniŋ] part; side papa [ˈpapa] under(side) papan [ˈpapan] 1. bottom; underside 2. mouth papari [paˈpari] papari tree papi [ˈpapi] pig parat [paˈrat̚] west parenta [paˈrenta] to rule paruarang [parˈwaraŋ] a kind of bamboo, used in old days to store water pas [pas] exactly when pasar [ˈpasar] market patang [ˈpataŋ] batang pati [ˈpati] stone pati matan [ˈpati ˈmatan] chest patialus [patiˈalus] gravel patin [ˈpatin] 1. seed 2. egg patpatak [patˈpatak̚] wall patuan [paˈtuan] stomach; belly pemuda [pɛˈmuda] youth pena [ˈpena] pen pening [ˈpeniŋ] price perlu [pɛrˈlu] to need perperi [pɛrˈperi] new; first pes lafan [pɛs ˈlafan] to linefishe pesa [ˈpesa] paddle peta [ˈpeta] anaphoric demonstrative peti [ˈpeti] box petpetin [pɛtˈpetin] white pidir [ˈpidir] piece pikiran [piˈkiran] thoughts pingan [ˈpiŋɡan] plate Pinggor [piŋˈɡɔr] Antalisa pinsa [ˈpinsa] side pinsil [ˈpinsil] pencil pinyakit [piˈŋakit̚] illness pisa [piˈsa] a little pitis [ˈpitis] money poning [ˈpɔniŋ] to smell bad popa [ˈpopa] mother's brother pora [ˈpora] cuscus Posposak [posˈposak̚] Posposak, placename on the west side of the southeastern Karas island puadi [puˈadi] bridal sofa on a podium where the couple greet guests puala [puˈala] crocodile puan [ˈpuan] 1. fruit 2. to bear fruit puar [ˈpuar] many (of trees) puatin [puˈatin] head puca [puˈʧa] ten pucaresin [puʧaˈrɛsin] tens puk [puk̚] hair pukar [ˈpukar] slope pukin [ˈpukin] knot pukpukar [pukˈpukar] to be sloped; to be steep punan [ˈpunan] 1. month 2. moon punit [ˈpunit̚] finished punpunit [punˈpunit̚] empty puntilanak [puntiˈlanak̚ ] owl pupuk [ˈpupuk̚] fertilizer purak [ˈpurak̚] sharpening stone puri [ˈpuri] anchovy puring [ˈpuriŋ] fin pusir [ˈpusir] bow *puti [ˈputi] ten putinima [putiˈnima] fifty putinua [putiˈnua] twenty putir [ˈputir] group (of living beings) R r raca [raˈca] one hundred raca putinua resin teni [raˈʧa putiˈnua ˈrɛsin ˈteni] 123 ramas [ˈramas] turmeric ranggas [ˈraŋgas] branch ranjau [ˈranɟau] fishing technique using a long line with lots of hooks ranti [ˈranti] necklace ranua [raˈnua] long ago raruni [raˈruni] bow rasa [ˈrasa] to feel rata [ˈrata] flat rateni [raˈteni] three hundred *rati [ˈrati] hundred rau [ˈrau] canoe rau waraman [ˈrau waˈraman] outrigger canoe rawain [raˈwain] room regil [ˈrɛɡil] horizontal beam in wall rein [ˈrɛin] too rejeki [rɛʤɛˈki] good luck rep [rɛp] shoal resan [ˈresan] hammer resin [ˈrɛsin] other ripi [ˈripi] thousand ripi raca [ˈripi raˈʧa] one hundred thousand ripuca [ripuˈʧa] ten thousand *riputi [riˈputi] thousand ten riputi nua [riˈputi ˈnua] twenty thousand riri [ˈriri] kunai grass ririk [ˈririk̚] to stand (tr.) ririn [ˈririn] tall roran [ˈrɔran] again roti [ˈrɔti] bread ruaf [ˈruaf] pen rufafar [ruˈfafar] fly rugi [ˈruɡi] to lose ruguain [ruɡuˈain] morning ruki [ˈruki] to make a fist rupapang [ruˈpapan] pool; space under a horizontally closed platform, like a sitting platform or a house on stilts rupayang [ruˈpajaŋ] wave rusa [ˈrusa] deer rusing [ˈrusiŋ] morter S s sa [sa] one sabua [saˈbua] party tent sagum [saˈɡum] a kind of tree sair [ˈsair] tune sakafin [saˈkafin] wing sala [ˈsala] to be wrong sama [ˈsama] same samar [ˈsamar] north (wind) sampe [ˈsampe] until sanang [saˈnaŋ] to like; to feel good sangaji [saˈŋaɟi] big man sanong [saˈnoŋ] roof (thatched) sapopan [saˈpopan] coconut shell saputi [saˈputi] nine sarek [saˈrek] a kind of lorikeet sari [ˈsari] shoal sasalik [saˈsalik̚] circumcision sasat [saˈsat̚] just now sawan [ˈsawan] fog sayang [ˈsajaŋ] nutmeg sayang patin [ˈsajaŋ ˈpatin] nutmeg se [sɛ] who sebenarnya [sɛbɛˈnarɲa] actually sebur [sɛˈbur] to recite sedangkan [sɛˈdaŋkan] while sedi [ˈsedi] sad sehingga [sɛˈhiŋɡa] so that sei [ˈsei] to sew (roof) seir [seir] fish seisei [seiˈsei] to throw Iseisei pati ato tasik. I'm throwing stones in the sea. sejara [seˈʤara] history sekarang [seˈkaraŋ] now sekola [seˈkola] to go to school semanka [seˈmanka] watermelon semen [seˈmen] concrete sendal [senˈdal] slippers senen [sɛˈnɛn] Monday seng [sɛŋ] corrugated iron sheet sensor [ˈsɛnsor] chainsaw sepseban [sɛpˈseban] damsels, demoiselles and other kinds of small fishes Serser [sɛrˈsɛr] Serser, name of a beach on the west side of the south-eastern Karas island sese [ˈsese] chase away cat setan [ˈsetan] devil sigit [ˈsiɡit̚] 1. horn 2. to horn sika [ˈsika] cat sileng [ˈsilɛŋ] 1. taboo place, guarded by a ghost 2. ghost that inhabits a snake (lives between Mas and Antalisa) simisina [simɪˈsina] 3PL.alone sina [ˈsina] 3PL sinei [siˈnei] big singgoli [siŋˈɡɔli] sago pancake singonggar [siŋˈɡɔŋɡar] to have convulsions singsingat [siŋˈsiŋat] a kind of small ant sinina [siˈnina] 3PL.POSS sinua [siˈnua] they two sipsipat [sipˈsipat̚] spatula sira [ˈsira] 1. salt 2. to salt siram [ˈsiram] sailfish sirang [ˈsiraŋ] to pour siret [ˈsiret̚] drawing room sirurat [siˈrurat̚] words; language sisir [ˈsisir] 1. comb 2. to comb sisira [siˈsira] salted sobas [ˈsɔbas] twilight; dawn soka [ˈsɔka] snake sokar [ˈsɔkar] to be sick; to hurt soksoka [sokˈsoka] squid soksoka tein [sokˈsoka tein] squid ink som [sɔm] iamitive sonang [ˈsɔnaŋ] bako sonat [ˈsɔnat̚] gap songga [ˈsɔŋɡa] to plumb rule songgi [ˈsɔŋɡi] triggerfish; leatherjacket sonsonang [sɔnˈsɔnaŋ] two-pointed spear sontor [ˈsɔntɔr] example; type Sorong [ˈsɔrɔŋ] Sorong suai [suˈai] what suai [suˈai] placeholder suair [suˈair] poison balls suang [ˈsuaŋ] digging stick suar [ˈsuar] 1. bamboo comb 2. to comb subunman [subunˈman] earthworm suci [ˈsuʧi] holy sudaka [sudaˈka] alms; (small) money gift to organisers of a celebration suka [ˈsuka] to like sukit [ˈsukit som] start of evening sukmatan [sukˈmatan] door suman [ˈsuman] 1. mouth 2. cap sumanua [sumaˈnua] a kind of ray sumbat [ˈsumbat̚] to plug sungsungga [suŋˈsuŋga] pants sunsuni [sunˈsuni] spoon susa [ˈsusa] difficult susi [ˈsusi] 1. milk 2. breast susuan [suˈsuan] for planting T t tabaki [taˈbaki] tobacco; cigarette tabalaki [ˌtabaˈlaki] tamarind taban [ˈtaban] thorn taberak [taˈberak] jackfruit tabiri [taˈbiri] mucus tagiri [taˈɡiri] mackerel tai [ˈtai] no; not tai da [ˈtai da] but; so; if not tain [ˈtain] sea urchin taker [taˈkɛr] tree kangaroo talalu [taˈlalu] too much taliwat [taˈliwat̚] very; too tamatil [taˈmatil] tomato tangan [ˈtaŋan] arm and hand tanganonggaf [taŋaˈnoŋgaf] fingernail tangkarek [taŋkaˈrɛk] finger tangtangga [taŋˈtaŋɡa] ring taningan [taˈniŋɡan] ear taningan atok [taˈniŋan aˈtɔk̚] to be deaf tanisa [taˈnisa] tropical almond tanisnisa [tanisˈnisa] a kind of fish tapaning [taˈpaniŋ] to be flipped tapar [ˈtapar] a kind of kangaroo tapare [tapaˈre] I don't know tapin [taˈpin] bottom of container tapin [taˈpin] last taptaban [tapˈtaban] thorn tapuri [taˈpuri] a kind of shell Tarak [ˈtarak̚] Tarak, a village on the north-eastern Karas island taram [ˈtaram] frigatebird taramus [taraˈmus] fairytale taransa [taranˈsa] seven tarapa [taˈrapa] oyster tarian [taˈrian] dance tas [tas] bag tasik [ˈtasik̚] sea; sea water tatakanus [tatakaˈnus] ancestor tatakena [tataˈkena] old man tatan [ˈtatan] 1. grandparent 2. grandchild tatanina [tataˈnina] grandmother tawanang [taˈwanaŋ] side tehel [ˈtehel] tile tei [tei] excrement teman [teˈman] friend tena [ˈtena] keel teni [ˈteni] three tepi [ˈtepi] sugarcane ter [tɛr] tea terinua [tɛriˈnua] eight ternyata [tɛrˈɲata] apparently terteran [tɛrˈteran] in a line or on a string; e.g. sharks, a fish line with many hooks, flowers, fruits terus [tɛˈrus] 1. then 2. to continue tetar [ˈtetar] low tide so that (coral) stones are uncovered Tetar [ˈtetar] Tetar, a place in Tonggarai (Bomberai mainland) tetetas [tɛˈtetas] kind of drum tiba [ˈtiba] a kind of bamboo; generic name for bamboo tiba tuni [tibaˈtuni] a kind of bamboo tibyabin [tibˈjabin], [tibˈɟabin] bad tigarang [tiˈɡaraŋ] a kind of fish timurak [tiˈmurak̚] sinker tinggal [ˈtiŋɡal] what remains is tinolas [tiˈnɔlas] ramadan tipan [ˈtipan] drum tiperperi [tipɛrˈperi] youth; youngster tipupuar [tipuˈpuar] buah gelombang tirak [ˈtirak̚] a kind of bamboo to [tɔ] right, tag question marker toba [ˈtɔba] a kind of buoy tof [tɔf] anthias, a kind of fish toi [ˈtɔi] a kind of grouper tokan [ˈtɔkan] punt pole toktoki [tokˈtoki] gecko tomang [ˈtɔmaŋ] net bag; woven bag tompat [ˈtompat̚] place; container tonggar [ˈtɔŋɡar] mangrove tongka [ˈtɔŋka] to hand-measure topi [ˈtɔpi] hat torak [ˈtɔrak̚] scad; pilot fish torong [ˈtɔrɔŋ] eggplant torung [ˈtɔruŋ] a kind of tree toto [ˈtɔtɔ] descent tuari [tuˈari] 1. to take long time 2. old tuburesa [ˌtubuˈresa] earthworm tukir [ˈtukir] a kind of bamboo tuktukar [tukˈtukar] shallow tumin [ˈtumin] watermelon tunangan [tuˈnaŋan] engagement tuni [ˈtuni] 1. right; real (in the sense of original) 2. very tunik [ˈtunik̚] knife tupa [ˈtupa] poisonous root tupin [ˈtupin] tip tutu [ˈtutu] really; true U u ukir [ˈukir] 1. a kind of bamboo 2. a kind of tree uma [ˈuma] garden unaba [uˈnaba] ikan lompa unanang [uˈnanaŋ] forest; mountain unang [ˈunaŋ] rain unang matapuan [ˈunaŋ ˌmataˈpuan] rainbow uncar [ˈuncar] a kind of plant undangan [unˈdaŋan] guest; invitee unggu [ˈuŋɡu] purple unin [ˈunin] head unit [ˈunit̚] skin uran [ˈuran] different sex sibling urat [ˈurat̚] vein uri [ˈuri] breadfruit uri watan [uriˈwatan] wild breadfruit urumas [uruˈmas] a kind of fish utaf [ˈutaf] tomorrow utin [ˈutin] penis Utun [ˈutun] Buton W w wabwaban [wabˈwaban] a kind of fish wai [ˈwai] 1. thing 2. cloth wai bibi [wai ˈbibi] sour sambal or dip to eat with fish wai kutin [waiˈkutin] wain [ˈwain] or what wain [ˈwain] place wainisin [waiˈnisin] fishing hook waipidpidir [waipidˈpidir] clothes; things wais [ˈwais] root vegetable waisi [waiˈsi] eagle waisuk [waiˈsuk̚] dove wakar [ˈwakar] root wakar buka [wakarˈbuka] a kind of tree Wakatuti [wakaˈtuti] Wakatuti, a place on the mainland in Sebakor Bay wamar [ˈwamar] hornbill Wamartupin [wamarˈtupin] Wamartupin, placename on the east side of the south-eastern Kiaba island wana [ˈwana] friend; sibling wang [waŋ] village; place wanggin [ˈwaŋɡin] cheeks Wangnirin [waŋˈnirin] Wangnirin language, lit. village language Wanim [ˈwanim] Wanim, placename on the south side of the south-eastern Karas island waraburis [waraˈburis] beard waras [ˈwaras] rope waras tuni [ˈwaras ˈtuni] rattan warin [ˈwarin] 1. sibling (same-sex) 2. friend warin mapata [ˈwarin maˈpata] sister warin marwana [ˈwarin marˈwana] brother warna [ˈwarna] colour wasir [ˈwasir] joint wat [wat̚] coconut wat madekdekar [wat madekˈdekar] dry coconut wat mesang [wat ˈmesaŋ] coconut grounds wat pating [wat̚ ˈpatiŋ] coconut leaf ribs wat sunsuni [wat sunˈsuni] green, fresh coconut wat tarobas [wataˈrobas] the brown part of the coconut skin watwatak [watˈwatak̚] foster (child) wawa [ˈwawa] mango wegam [ˈweɡam] to rust welawela [ˌwelaˈwela] 1. wedding rite 2. money gift wele [weˈle] vegetable wenawena [ˌwenaˈwena] bee wer [wɛr] water wer nanam [wer ˈnanam] river; stream wer nemnemin [wɛr nemˈnemin] drinking water wer sinei [wɛr siˈnei] lake Wertofar [werˈtofar] Wertofar, a placename werwer [werˈwer] garfish wewar [ˈwewar] axe wigin [ˈwiɡin] 1. base (tree) 2. classifier for plants wikir [ˈwikir] tail wiris [ˈwiris] string wirwiris [wirˈwiris] stringy wortel [ˈwortɛl] carrot wowa [ˈwɔwa] father's sister; aunt Y y yabar [ˈjabar] transportation wood yakop [ˈjakɔp̚] cockatoo yawat [ˈjawat̚] rat; mouse yawat duri [ˈjawat̚ ˈduri] porcupine yawat kawer [ˈjawat kaˈwer] bandicoot 1 In official and unofficial publications, other spellings for Tuberwasak are Tumberwasak, Tuberuasa and Tubirwasak. 2 This map seems to be an unpublished draft but is for example used in Kamholz (2014). 3 (Sub)grouping in this sentence following Glottolog (Hammarström et al., 2024). 4 Archived at https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://hdl.handle.net/2196/d618c786-6627-4ff6-944f-6c2276c03d99__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!S21MT2xwHqYmkf6xDPSp_xAVKib8UcrHPgbMPwzoX0ydH9V4HHjX0lv9FSyH9L-B3w876SjeGvCCcWKkxFi3YAg9-aYOtxHi$ . --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ Eline VISSER & Artúr STICKL | A Phonological sketch of Uruangnirin, Eastern Indonesia | JSEALS 18.2 (2025) 2 Copyright vested in the author; 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