Arapesh
Nouns table
| gloss | layer | sg | pl |
|---|---|---|---|
| river (1) | lexeme | waryb | warybys |
| river (1) | suffix | zero | bys |
| village (2) | lexeme | wabØr | waryb |
| village (2) | suffix | zero | ryb |
| lobster (3) | lexeme | arukweg | arukwegas |
| lobster (3) | suffix | zero | as |
| ridge pole (4a) | lexeme | maduku̥ | madimeb |
| ridge pole (4a) | suffix | zero | meb |
| ear lobe (4b) | lexeme | muguruku̥ | mugurib |
| ear lobe (4b) | suffix | zero | rib |
| star (4c) | lexeme | unuku̥ | unib |
| star (4c) | suffix | zero | ib |
| duck (4d) | lexeme | mabiteku̥ | mabiteguhijer |
| duck (4d) | suffix | zero | guhijer |
| canoe (4e) | lexeme | karahoku̥ | kararuhijer |
| canoe (4e) | suffix | zero | hijer |
| fly (4f) | lexeme | amagoku̥ | amagou |
| fly (4f) | suffix | zero | u |
| spider (5a) | lexeme | daudam | daudeip |
| spider (5a) | suffix | zero | eip |
| a.stick (5b) | lexeme | butum | butip |
| a.stick (5b) | suffix | zero | ipi̥ |
| sun/moon (6) | lexeme | aun | aub |
| sun/moon (6) | suffix | zero | b |
| father (7) | lexeme | jaken | jakenim |
| father (7) | suffix | zero | m |
| friend (8a) | lexeme | arapeɲ | arapeʃ |
| friend (8a) | suffix | zero | ʃ |
| frog (8b) | lexeme | maki | makihas |
| frog (8b) | suffix | zero | has |
| feast (9a) | lexeme | ilup | ilugwis |
| feast (9a) | suffix | zero | gwis |
| banana (9b) | lexeme | apap | apas |
| banana (9b) | suffix | zero | s |
| bird (10) | lexeme | aramir | aramiguh̥ |
| bird (10) | suffix | zero | guh̥ |
| shadow (10) | lexeme | aboril | aboriguh̥ |
| shadow (10) | suffix | zero | guh̥ |
| shelf (11) | lexeme | alit | alitogu̥ |
| shelf (11) | suffix | zero | ogu̥ |
| vine (12) | lexeme | maduh | madururuh |
| vine (12) | suffix | zero | ruh |
| sugar cane (12) | lexeme | arou̥h̥ | araruh |
| sugar cane (12) | suffix | zero | ruh |
| ear (13a) | lexeme | atah̥ | ateh̥ |
| ear (13a) | suffix | zero | eh̥ |
| hand drum (13b) | lexeme | wiruh̥ | wirih̥ |
| hand drum (13b) | suffix | zero | ih̥ |
Arapesh notes
- The analysis is taken from Fraser and Corbett (1997), based in turn on Aronoff's (1994) account of Fortune's (1940) analysis.
- The 22 noun classes map onto 13 classes of gender (as seen in
agreement), with the usual correspondence as follows:
noun termination adjectival suffix singular plural singular plural by̥ bys bi bysi bør ryb børi røbi ag as gi or gali gasi g gas ku̥ meb kwi ui or wali ku̥ rib ku̥ ib ku̥ guhijer ku̥ ijer ku̥ u m ipi̥ mi eipi or ipi n b ni bi n m ni or nali mi yɲ yʃ eɲi eʃi V Vhas pu̥ gwis pi si pu̥ s r guh ri guhi t togu̥ ti gi t gu̥ uh ruh whi ruhi ah eh ahi ehi - The gender with the agreements eɲi ~ eʃi is the default type; some nouns which "should" belong to certain genders according the above chart nevertheless may exceptionally be assigned to this default class.
References
Aronoff, Mark. 1994. Morphology by itself: Stems and inflectional classes. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Fortune, R.F. 1940. Arapesh. New York: J.J. Augustin.
Fraser, Norman. M. and Greville G. Corbett. 1997. Defaults in Arapesh. Lingua 103. 25-57.