Mali language
# Mali language

Mali or Gaktai is a Papuan language spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

## Dialects

There are two dialects of Mali:

* Arongda dialect (standard dialect; with two groups), spoken in the mountains, including in Marunga village (4°58′13″S 152°02′37″E﻿ / ﻿4.970382°S 152.043503°E﻿ / -4.970382; 152.043503﻿ (Marunga Village)) in Sinivit Rural LLG, East New Britain Province
* Abilta dialect, spoken along the coast

## Phonology

The phonology of the Mali language:

### Consonants

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | | k |
| Plosive | prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | | ᵑɡ |
| Fricative | Fricative | β | s | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ŋ |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | ɹ | j | ɰ |
| Lateral | Lateral | | l | | |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | r | | |

### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| - | - | - | - |
| High | i | | u |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Low | | a | |

## Noun classes

Mali makes use of noun classes. Below are some Mali noun class paradigms, using the noun root amēng ‘tree’ as an $example:^{:802}$

    Noun classSingularDualPluralGloss Masculine (m) amēng-kaamēng-iomamēng‘slender tree’ Feminine (f) amēng-kiamēng-vemamēng‘large full grown tree’ Diminutive (dim) amēng-iniamēng-ithomamēng-ithong‘stick’ Reduced (rcd) amēng-ēmamēng-vamamēng-vap‘tree stump’ Flat (flat) ―――― Excised (exc) amēng-iglamēng-iglemamēng-igleng‘plank’ Long (long) amēng-vētamēng-imelēmamēng-imelēk‘pole’ Extended (ext) amēng-iaamēng-inēmamēng-inēk‘large log’ Count neutral (cn) amēng‘wood or trees’
