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Adzera (also spelled Atzera, Azera, Atsera, Acira) is an
Austronesian language The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken b ...
spoken by about 30,000 people in
Morobe Province Morobe is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands Province ...
,
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 ...
.


Dialects

Holzknecht (1989) lists six Adzera dialects. * ''Central'' dialect chain: 9,950 speakers * ''Amari'' dialect: 5,350 speakers * ''Ngarowapum'' dialect: 1,200 speakers * ''Yaros'' dialect: 2,200 speakers * ''Guruf / Ngariawang'' dialect: 1,550 speakers * ''Tsumanggorun'' dialect: 400 speakers Sukurum is spoken in the villages of Sukurum (), Rumrinan (), Gabagiap (), Gupasa, Waroum (), and Wangat () in Wantoat/Leron Rural LLG. Sarasira is spoken in the villages of Sarasira (), Som (), Pukpuk, Saseang (), and Sisuk in Wantoat/Leron Rural LLG. Sarasira and Som share the same speech variety.


Phonology


Vowels

The
diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
s occur, while other sequences of vowels are split over two syllables. does not occur in the Amari and Ngarowapum dialects.


Consonants

occurs in only one word: the
interjection An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling, situation or reaction. It is a diverse category, with many different types, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curses (''da ...
''hai'' "yes". In the Amari dialect, palato-alveolar affricates and are heard as only alveolar sounds and . The
prenasalized Prenasalized consonants are phonetic sequences of a nasal and an obstruent (or occasionally a non-nasal sonorant) that behave phonologically like single consonants. The primary reason for considering them to be single consonants, rather than clus ...
consonants tend to lose prenasalization initially and after consonants. are sometimes realized as , especially in codas.


Writing system

J, o and z are used in some
loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
s and names. The letter ŋ was replaced by the digraph ng in the 2015 orthography.


Grammar


Negation


Simple negation

Simple
negation In logic, negation, also called the logical not or logical complement, is an operation (mathematics), operation that takes a Proposition (mathematics), proposition P to another proposition "not P", written \neg P, \mathord P, P^\prime or \over ...
in Adzera is achieved by the word ''imaʔ'' 'no'. This word can be used on its own in response to a question, or paired with a negative sentence. For example: The Amari dialect of Adzera is specifically noted for its use of ''namu'' for 'no' where all other Adzera dialects would use ''imaʔ.'' however, in Amari both words can be used interchangeably.


Negation of a noun phrase

The simple negative forms above can be used in a
noun phrase A noun phrase – or NP or nominal (phrase) – is a phrase that usually has a noun or pronoun as its head, and has the same grammatical functions as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently ...
after the noun to modify it. Such as ''mamaʔ namu '''No children'. This can also apply to a coordinated noun phrase, such as ''iyam da ifab '''dog and pig' where ''iyam da ifab namu'' would mean that there were no dogs and no pigs.


Negation of a verb phrase

Most negation is done through the
verb phrase In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntax, syntactic unit composed of a verb and its argument (linguistics), arguments except the subject (grammar), subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence ''A fat man quic ...
. For general circumstances, verbal negation is achieved by a verbal
prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the word to which it is affixed. Prefixes, like other affixes, can b ...
''anuŋʔ-'' And an optional negation
particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...
''u'' at the end of the sentence. For example: However, for verbs in the imperative or
hortative In linguistics, hortative modalities (; abbreviated ) are verbal expressions used by the speaker to encourage or discourage an action. Different hortatives can be used to express greater or lesser intensity, or the speaker's attitude, for or a ...
forms, which take a prefix ''wa-'' or ''na-'' respectively, the negative is achieved by replacing their respective prefixes with a negative form ''ma-'' followed at the end of the sentence by a compulsory particle ''maʔ.''


= Coordinated verb negation

= When two negative verbs or phrases are joined by ''da'' ‘and’ the first verb takes the negative prefix ''anuŋʔ-'', and the negative particle ''u'' comes at the end of the whole sentence.


= Negation with future tense

= When negating a sentence in the
future tense In grammar, a future tense ( abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''achètera'', mea ...
, the future tense prefix is replaced with the
realis A realis mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Most ...
prefix. Any future time marking still remains. There is also a preference toward forming negative sentences in the future tense with an
auxiliary verb An auxiliary verb ( abbreviated ) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or ...
''saŋʔ'' 'be able, be enough' before the main verb of the sentence, suggesting a reluctance toward making negative statements about the future. For example: When coordinating two sentences of future tense, the first verb phrase replaces the future prefix with the realis, but all following verb phrases retain their future tense marking.


List of abbreviations

''see
List of Glossing Abbreviations This article lists common abbreviations for grammatical terms that are used in linguistic interlinear glossing of oral languages in English. The list provides conventional glosses as established by standard inventories of glossing abbreviations su ...
.'' Below is a list of Grammatical abbreviations used throughout this article:
COMP:completive aspect TIME:time marker


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * {{Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages Markham languages Languages of Morobe Province