Ekari (also ''Ekagi'', ''Kapauku'', ''Mee'') is a Trans–New Guinea language spoken by about 100,000 people in the Paniai lakes region of the Indonesian province of Papua, including the villages of

Enarotali Enarotali is a town in Paniai Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. It is located on the shore of Lake Paniai, in Western New Guinea highlands. History Enarotali is considered to be the only colonial city founded by the Dutch in the interior of ...

Mapia Mapia Atoll (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Mapia''), historically known as the Freewill Islands or San David, is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean. It is located in Papua (province), Papua province of Indonesia, approximately 290 ki ...

and

Moanemani Moanemani is a village in the Kamu district of the Dogiyai Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. It is located in the fertile Kamu Valley, a dry lake bed west of the Paniai lakes region. The indigenous residents are speakers of Mee. Moanemani is a ...

. This makes it the second-most populous

Papuan language The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non-Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...

in Indonesian New Guinea after Western Dani. Language use is vigorous. Documentation is quite limited.

Phonology

Consonants

The voiced velar stop (ɡᶫ) is pronounced with lateral release. Doble (1987) describes both /k/ and /ɡᶫ/ as being labialized ʷ, ɡᶫʷafter the back vowels /o, u/ (i.e. ''okei'' 'they', ''euga'' 'more'), with ''g'' having 'varying' degrees of the lateral. Staroverov & Tebay (2019) describe /ɡᶫ/ as being velar lateral �ᶫbefore front vowels and uvular non-lateral �ʶbefore non-front vowels. When lateral, there is usually a stop onset, but occasionally just �is heard. /j/ is a 'more palatalized ' (perhaps or ) before the high front vowel /i/ (i.e. ''yina'' 'insect').

Vowels

Both Doble (1987) and Staroverov & Tebay (2019) describe five vowel qualities. Long vowels and diphthongs are analyzed as sequences.

Tone

Ekari has pitch accent. One syllable in a word may have a high tone, contrasting with words without a high tone. If the vowel is long or a diphthong and not at the end of the word, the high tone is phonetically rising. CV words have no tone contrast. CVV words may be mid/low or high. (In all of these patterns, here and following, initial C is optional.) Words of the following shapes may have a contrastive high tone on the final syllable: CVCV, CVCVV. Words of the following shapes may have either a rising or a falling tone on the first long syllable: CVVCV, CVVCVV, CVCVVCVV, CVVCVCV (rare), CVVCVCVV (rare). The following word shapes do not have contrastive tone: CVCVCV, CVCVVCV, CVCVCVV, and words of 4 or more syllables.

References

Bibliography

* Doble, Marion (1962). "Essays on Kapauku grammar". ''Nieuw Guinea Studiën''. 6: 152-5, 211-8, 279-98. * * *

External links

Materials on Ekari are included in the open access Arthur Capell collections held by

Paradisec The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel-to ...

:
AC1

AC2
{{West Trans–New Guinea languages Paniai Lakes languages Languages of western New Guinea