Telefol is a language spoken by the
Telefol people in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
, notable for possessing a
base-27 numeral system
A numeral system is a writing system for expressing numbers; that is, a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using digits or other symbols in a consistent manner.
The same sequence of symbols may represent differe ...
.
History
The
Iligimin people also spoke Telefol, but they were defeated by the Telefol proper.
Orthography
Single and represent both their single and long vowels, since they rarely contrast.
is written pre-consonantally and word-finally.
Single is written intervocalically, and is written intervocalically.
and are written and (since they're pronounced and respectively).
Initial is also written with in loan words, e.g., 'God'.
Phonology
Consonants
and only appear in a few particles and some exclamations. and only appear in a few loans.
Vowels
There are two contrastive phonemic tones in Telefol, high and low. For example, 'club' vs. 'planted'.
and , and , are nearly in complementary distribution. Also, single and don't occur in one-syllable words or in terminal syllables.
Vowel length only contrasts in initial syllables. However, in initial syllables single and , and and , don't contrast.
Phonotactics
Syllable structure is (C)V(ː)(C).
does not occur word-initially.
is allowed in medial, but not word-initial, onsets.
Grammar
Telefol is a
subject–object–verb language.
Verbal aspect
Telefol has a rich aspectual system. Telefol verbs have "punctiliar" (momentary/completed) and "continuative" stems.
Counting system
Telefol uses a base-27 counting system. This is mapped onto the body by counting each of the following: the left pinky to the left thumb (1-5); the wrist, lower arm, elbow, upper arm, and shoulder (6-10); the side of the neck, ear, and left eye (11-13); the nose (14); and similarly on the right side in reverse order, from the right eye to the right pinky (15-27).
Kinship
Telefol has
dyadic kinship term Dyadic kinship terms ( abbreviated or ) are kinship terms in a few languages that express the relationship between individuals as they relate one to the other. In English, there are a few set phrases for such situations, such as "they are father a ...
s (terms referring to the relationship two or more people have to each other), which are uncommon in the world's languages and not prevalent in Papua New Guinea. However, they are a salient feature of the Ok languages. Related terms are found in
Oksapmin
Oksapmin is a Trans–New Guinea language spoken in Oksapmin Rural LLG, Telefomin District, Sandaun, Papua New Guinea.
The two principal dialects are distinct enough to cause some problems with mutual intelligibility.
Oksapmin has dyadic kin ...
,
Mian, and
Tifal.
Evolution
Below are some reflexes of
proto-Trans-New Guinea proposed by
Pawley (2012):
See also
*
Ok languages
The Ok languages are a family of about a dozen related Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in a contiguous area of eastern Irian Jaya and western Papua New Guinea. The most numerous language is Ngalum, with some 20,000 speakers; the best known i ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
Telefol on globalrecordings.netWALS - TelefolPNG Language Resources: Telefol information
* Paradisec ha
a number of collections that include Telefol language materials
{{Central and South New Guinea languages
Languages of Sandaun Province
Languages of Western Province (Papua New Guinea)
Ok languages