Kembra language

Kembra
Native to	Western New Guinea
Region	Kiambra village, Kaisenar District, Keerom Regency
Ethnicity	50[1]
Native speakers	(20 cited 2000)[1]
Language family	Pauwasi Yetfa – South Pauwasi South Pauwasi Lepki–Murkim Kembra
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xkw
Glottolog	kemb1250
ELP	Kembra
Kembra is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Kembra is a South Pauwasi language spoken in Western New Guinea by some twenty persons in Kiambra village, Kaisenar District, Keerom Regency. It is used by between 20% and 60% of the ethnic population and is no longer passed down to children.

Classification

Initial documentation was carried out by Barnabas Konel and Roger Doriot. Kembra data remains unpublished in Konel's and Doriot's field notes.^[2][3]

Foley (2018) notes that Kembra has some lexical forms resembling Lepki, but not Murkim, hinting at lexical borrowing between Kembra and Lepki, but not Murkim. He allows the possibility of Kembra being related to Lepki–Murkim, pending further evidence.^[4] With more data, Usher (2020) was able to verify the connection.

Phonology

Kembra is a tonal language, as shown by the following minimal pair.^[4]: 464

• yá ‘pig’
• yà ‘fire, tree’

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Kembra listed in Foley (2018):^[5]

Kembra basic vocabulary

gloss	Kembra
‘bird’	tra
‘blood’	nili
‘bone’	ka
‘eat’	ɲəm
‘egg’	traləl
‘eye’	yi
‘fire’	ya
‘give’	lokwes
‘ground’	to
‘hair’	iyet
‘I’	mu
‘leg’	kla
‘louse’	nim
‘man’	ratera
‘name’	kia
‘one’	kutina
‘see’	iyam
‘stone’	isi
‘sun’	ota
‘tooth’	pa
‘tree’	ya
‘two’	kais
‘water’	er
‘we’	utuas
‘you (sg)’	amagrei
‘you (pl)’	robkei

Sentences

Kembra has SOV word order, and also appears to have bipartite negation as in Abun and French. Only several sentences have been elicited by Konel (n.d.), which are quoted below from Foley (2018).^[4]

(1)

pei

dog

yá

pig

por

black

ɲəm

eat

pei yá por ɲəm

dog pig black eat

‘The dog ate the black pig.’

(2)

mu

1SG

ipei

betelnut

ɲəm

eat

mu ipei ɲəm

1SG betelnut eat

‘I’m chewing betelnut.’

(3)

mu

1SG

pei

dog

te-iya-mo

?-see-TNS

mu pei te-iya-mo

1SG dog ?-see-TNS

‘I see the dog.’

(4)

mu

1SG

ipei

betelnut

abi-ɲi

NEG-eat

koto

NEG

mu ipei abi-ɲi koto

1SG betelnut NEG-eat NEG

‘I didn’t eat betelnut.’

(5)

mu

1SG

pei

dog

abi-(i)ya

NEG-see

koto

NEG

mu pei abi-(i)ya koto

1SG dog NEG-see NEG

‘I didn’t see the dog.’

References

1. Kembra at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Konel, Barnabas. n.d. Wordlist of Kembra. Photocopy of handwritten ms.
3. Doriot, Roger E. 1991. 6-2-3-4 Trek, April-May, 1991. Ms.
4. Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 433–568. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
5. Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.