Kwerba language

Kwerba
Sasawa
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Sarmi Regency, Papua
Native speakers	(2,500 cited 1996)[1]
Language family	Foja Range Kwerbic Nuclear Kwerba Kwerba
Dialects	Serikenam Sasawa Nogukwabai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kwe
Glottolog	nucl1595

Kwerba is a Papuan language of Indonesia. Alternate names are Airmati (Armati), Koassa, Mataweja, Naibedj, Segar Tor, Tekutameso.

Kwerba is spoken in Apiaweti, Aurime, Munukania, Tatsewalem, and Wamariri villages in Sarmi Regency.^[2]

Phonology

Consonants^[3]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p pʷ	t	tʃ	k kʷ
Fricative		s
Nasal	m mʷ	n	ɲ	ŋ
Approximant	w	r	j

• The consonants /p k/ can be heard as [ɸ x] intervocalically.
• The plosive and affricate consonants can be aspirated word-finally.
• /s/ sometimes varies to [h] word initially and intervocalically for some speakers.
• /r/ does not occur word-initially.

Vowels^[3]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Near-high	ɪ
Mid-high	e	ə	o
Mid-low	ɛ
Low		a

Stress occurs on the penultimate syllable.^[3]

Pronouns

Kwerba nominative pronouns as given in Foley (2018):^[4]

		singular	dual	plural
1st person	excl	co	nano’	nino
	incl		na’no	neno
2nd person		am	nono	nom
3rd person		iiniim	iinembwano	iinembwa

References

1. Kwerba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Indonesia languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
3. Slizer, Peter J. (1976). Suharno, Ignatius; Pike, Kenneth L. (eds.). "A six-week phonemic analysis of Air Mati with a tentative orthography". From Baudi to Indonesian. Jayapura: Cenderawasih University and Summer Institute of Linguistics: 192–201.
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.