Kuot language
# Kuot language

The Kuot language, or Panaras, is a language isolate, the only non-Austronesian language spoken on the island of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Lindström (2002: 30) estimates that there are 1,500 fluent speakers of Kuot. Perhaps due to the small speaker base, there are no significant dialects present within Kuot. It is spoken in 10 villages, including Panaras village (3°07′22″S 151°29′08″E﻿ / ﻿3.122883°S 151.485644°E﻿ / -3.122883; 151.485644﻿ (Panaras)) of Sentral Niu Ailan Rural LLG in New Ireland Province.

## Locations

Kuot is spoken in the following 10 villages. The first five villages are located on the eastern coast, and the last five on the western coast in New $Ireland.^{:29}$ Geographical coordinates are also provided for each village.

* Kama (2°58′38″S 151°30′04″E﻿ / ﻿2.977267°S 151.501072°E﻿ / -2.977267; 151.501072﻿ (Kama))
* Bol (2°59′47″S 151°32′13″E﻿ / ﻿2.996383°S 151.537008°E﻿ / -2.996383; 151.537008﻿ (Bol)) (mixed with Nalik speakers)
* Fanafiliuo
* Liedan (3°01′16″S 151°35′08″E﻿ / ﻿3.021238°S 151.585456°E﻿ / -3.021238; 151.585456﻿ (Liedan Village))
* Kabi (3°04′01″S 151°40′49″E﻿ / ﻿3.067025°S 151.680387°E﻿ / -3.067025; 151.680387﻿ (Kabil))
* Naiama (3°03′48″S 151°26′04″E﻿ / ﻿3.063228°S 151.434449°E﻿ / -3.063228; 151.434449﻿ (Naiama))
* Panaras (3°07′22″S 151°29′08″E﻿ / ﻿3.122883°S 151.485644°E﻿ / -3.122883; 151.485644﻿ (Panaras))
* Naliut (3°08′38″S 151°32′50″E﻿ / ﻿3.14398°S 151.547271°E﻿ / -3.14398; 151.547271﻿ (Neiruaran))
* Nakalakalap (3°08′38″S 151°32′50″E﻿ / ﻿3.14398°S 151.547271°E﻿ / -3.14398; 151.547271﻿ (Neiruaran))
* Patlangat (3°09′35″S 151°35′29″E﻿ / ﻿3.159597°S 151.591463°E﻿ / -3.159597; 151.591463﻿ (Patlangat))
* Bimun (3°10′04″S 151°36′16″E﻿ / ﻿3.167725°S 151.604444°E﻿ / -3.167725; 151.604444﻿ (Bimun))

Combined, the two villages of Naliut and Nakalakalap are known as Neiruaran (3°08′38″S 151°32′50″E﻿ / ﻿3.14398°S 151.547271°E﻿ / -3.14398; 151.547271﻿ (Neiruaran)). Most of the villages are located in Sentral Niu Ailan Rural LLG, though some of the eastern villages, such as Kama and Bol, are located in Tikana Rural LLG.

The Kuot variety described by Lindström (2002) is that of Bimun village.

## Language contact

Lenition in some Austronesian languages of New Ireland, namely Lamasong, Madak, Barok, Nalik, and Kara, may have diffused via influence from Kuot (Ross 1994: 566).

## Status

Kuot is an endangered language and most children, if not all, grow up speaking Tok Pisin instead.

## Phonology

### Consonants

| | | Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n~ɲ | ŋ |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k |
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | ɡ |
| Fricative | voiceless | ɸ~f | s~ʃ | |
| Fricative | voiced | β~v | | |
| Lateral | Lateral | | l | |
| Flap | Flap | | ɾ | |

### Vowels

The vowels /i/ and /u/ tend to become glide-vowels in occurrence with other vowels. The length of the vowels is not making differences for the meaning of words. The appearance of /i/ and /u/ with other vowels can not be seen as diphthong or a combination of vowel and glide-vowel. There are never more than three vowels per syllable. The combination of diphthong and vowel is also possible but they are pronounced in conditions of the syllable. Diphthongs are spoken like one sound.

| | Front | Back |
| - | - | - |
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |

**Allophones**

| Phoneme | Allophones |
| - | - |
| /i/ | [i~ɪ~j] |
| /e/ | [e~ɛ] |
| /a/ | [a~ʌ] |
| /u/ | [u~ʊ~w] |
| /o/ | [o~ɔ] |

### Morphophonemic Alternations

**'t' to 'r' Alternation**

The phoneme /t/ in certain possessive markers, such as "-tuaŋ", "-tuŋ" and "-tuo" becomes /r/ when it comes after a stem ending in a vowel. Compare:

* ira-ruaŋ – my father
* luguan-tuaŋ – my house
* i'rama-ruo – my eye
* nebam-tuaŋ – my feather

**Vowel Shortening**

Where the third person singular masculine suffix "-oŋ" is used on a noun that ends with a vowel, this vowel is typically not pronounced. For instance, "amaŋa-oŋ" is pronounced [aˈmaŋɔŋ], not [aˈmaŋaɔŋ].

**Voicing Rule**

When vowel-initial suffixes are added to stems that end in voiceless consonants, those consonants become voiced. For example:

* /obareit-oŋ/ [obaˈreidoŋ] he splits it
* /taɸ-o/ [taˈβo] he drinks
* /marik-oŋ/ [maˈriɡoŋ] he prays

The phoneme /p/ becomes [β], not [b].

* /sip-oŋ/ [ˈsiβɔŋ] it comes out
* /irap-a/ [iˈraβa] her eyes

## Grammar

Kuot is the only Papuan language that has VSO word order, similar to Irish and $Welsh.^{:920}$ The morphology of the language is primarily agglutinative. There are two grammatical genders, male and female, and distinction is made in the first person between singular, dual, and plural, as well as between exclusive and inclusive.

For instance, the sentence parak-oŋ ira-ruaŋ kamin literally means 'my father eats sweet potato'. Parak-oŋ is a continuous aspect of the verb meaning 'to eat', ira means 'father', -ruaŋ is a suffix used to indicate inalienable possession ('my father'), and kamin is a simple noun meaning 'sweet potato'.

### Noun declensions

Kuot nouns can be singular, dual, or plural. Below are some noun declension paradigms in Kuot (from Stebbins, et al. (2018), based on Lindström 2002: 147–146):

    ClassNoun rootGlossSingularPluralDual 1‘plain’roadalaŋalaŋipalaŋip-ien 2maeyeirəmairəpirəp-ien 3nabase (e.g. of tree)muanamuapmuap-ien 4bunhenpuraibunpurailəppurailəp-ien 5bubreadfruit treeopəliobuopələpopələp-ien 6uombananapebuompebuppebup-ien 7bamribbinbambinbəpbinbəp-ien 8nəmvillagepianəmpialappialap-ien 9nimnamebonimbopbop-ien 10mnitdikkamdikkəpdikkəp-ien 11nweedkaunkaulupkaulup-ien

## Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words are from Lindström (2008), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

    glossKuot headbukom hairkapuruma earkikinəm eyeirəma noseakabunima; ŋof toothlaukima tongueməlobiem louseineima dogkapuna birdamani; kobeŋ eggdəkər; səgər bloodoləbuan bonemuanəm skinkumalip; neip; pəppək breastsisima manmikana; teima womanmakabun skypanbinim moonuləŋ waterburunəm; danuot firekit stoneadəs road, pathalaŋ namebonim eato; parak onenamurit twonarain
