Koiari

Koiari is a Papuan (or non­Austronesian) language spoken by about 1600 people living in the foothills of the Owen Stanley Range just inland of Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. It is a member of the Koiarian family, one of about sixty families of Papuan languages found in Papua New Guinea and the surrounding area. In most respects Koiari is a typical Papuan language. It is typologically SOV with core relations indicated by affixation on the verb and peripheral ones by postpositions. The verb is the centre of the clause and is morphologically complex. There are no articles and no formal noun classes except that body part, kinship and certain other nouns are inherently possessed. The language has only six pronouns and no inclusive­exclusive distinction is made. The Koiari counting system is based on two. In other respects, however, Koiari is unusual amongst Papuan languages. It is phonologically relatively simple ­­ all syllables are open and there are no unusual vowels or consonants and no complex consonant clusters. Its verb system is also unusual in making dual reference to subjects and objects, one set of suffixes reflecting the number of subjects and objects ergatively, the other agreeing with subjects nominatively.