Doromu language

Doromu, or Doromu-Koki, is a Manubaran language spoken in the "Bird's Tail" of Papua New Guinea. Doromu has about 1,500 native speakers with half of them living in the capital, Port Moresby. It has three varieties: Koki, Kokila and Koriko.[2]

Doromu
Doromu-Koki
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionCentral Province
Native speakers
1,500 (2006)[1]
Dialects
  • Doromu
  • Koki
Language codes
ISO 639-3kqc
Glottologdoro1266

Phonology

Doromu has 17 phonemes: 12 are consonants and 5 are vowels.[3]

Consonants

Below is a chart of Doromu consonants.

Table of consonant phonemes of Doromu
Labial Coronal Velar
Stop b tʰ d kʰ q g
Nasal m n
Fricative f β s
Tap ɾ
Approximant j

Vowels

Below is a chart of Doromu vowels.

Doromu Vowels
Front Back
High i u
Mid ɛ [ɛ] [e] o
Low a

Orthography

From March 18 to March 25 of 2002 in Kasonomu village the current orthography was developed during the Doromu Alphabet Design Workshop. The orthography developed from this workshop were discussed with various areas in the language group and were agreed upon. One problem was how borrowed words with letters not contained in the Doromu orthography would be dealt with. The proposed solution from the native speakers was to spell the loan words as they are spelled in their original language.

[4]
Uppercase letters ABDEFGIKMNORSTUVY
Lowercase letters abdefgikmnorstuvy
IPA /a//b//d//ɛ//f//ɡ//i//k//m//n//o//ɾ//s//t//u//ʋ//j/

Verbs

In Doromu verbs may have suffixes, which affect tense, aspect, mood, or switch reference.

Tense affixes

Past Tense

  • First person singular is indicated by -(y)aka
  • Second and Third person singular are indicated by -(y)o
  • First person plural is indicated by -(y)afa
  • Second and Third person plural are indicated by -(y)adi

Present Tense

  • First person singular is indicated by -da
  • Second person singular is indicated by -sa
  • Third person singular is indicated by -do
  • First person plural is indicated by -sifa
  • Second and Third person plural are indicated by -dedi

Past Tense

  • First person singular is indicated by -gida
  • Second person singular is indicated by -giya
  • Third person singular is indicated by -go
  • First person plural is indicated by -gifa
  • Second and Third person plural are indicated by -gedi

Colors

Below is a table of the names of different colors in Doromu.

Doromu English
blu blue
bora yellow, orange
braun brown
feo white
gabu black, blue, brown
kaka red, purple
vegu green

The words 'blu' and 'braun' are borrowed from another language. The word 'kaka' can also mean ripe. While 'vegu' is also a noun which means 'life'. 'Kamaidaforo' is the word meaning 'colorful, attractive, glittery, sparkling'.

Numbers
English Doromu Literal Meaning
one yokoi
two remanu
three regode
four vana raro hand line
five vana berou autu hand side empty
six vana berou autu yokoi maka hand side empty one only
seven vana berou autu remanu hand side empty two
eight vana berou autu regode hand side empty three
nine vana berou autu vana raro hand side empty hand line
ten vana ufo hand clap (two hands together)
gollark: It seems very exploitable.
gollark: But "do not talk about this person" as a solution is not really ideal.
gollark: I think it's more like "people sometimes want you to".
gollark: This is clearly shorthand for "be grammatically identified as".
gollark: No words will be spared.

References
  1. Doromu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Doromu-Koki". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Bradshaw, Robert (2012). Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages Doromu-Koki Grammar Sketch. SIL-PNG Academic Publications Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea.
  4. Bradshaw, Robert (25 June 2002). "Orthography and Phonology Description" (PDF). SIL International. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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