Kalam language

Kalam is a Kalam language of Papua New Guinea. It is closely related to Kobon, and shares many of the features of that language. Kalam is spoken in Middle Ramu District of Madang Province and in Mount Hagen District of Western Highlands Province.

Thanks to decades of studies by anthropologists such as Ralph Bulmer and others, Kalam is one of the best-studied Trans-New Guinea languages to date.

There are two distinct dialects of Kalam that are highly distinguishable from each other.

• Etp, with 20,000 speakers, is centered in the Upper Kaironk and Upper Simbai Valleys.
• Ti, with 5,000 speakers is centered in the Asai Valley. It includes the Tai variety.

Kobon is closely related.

Kalam has an elaborate pandanus avoidance register used during karuka harvest that has been extensively documented. The Kalam pandanus language, called alŋaw mnm (pandanus language) or ask-mosk mnm (avoidance language), is also used when eating or cooking cassowary.

Below are some Kalam reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea proposed by Pawley (2012, 2018). Data is from the Etp dialect unless otherwise noted. Data from Ti, the other major dialect, is also given when noted.

Kalam has eight tense-aspect categories. There are four past tenses, two present tenses, and two future tenses, which are all marked using suffixes:

• past habitual
• remote past (yesterday or earlier)
• today's past
• immediate past
• present habitual
• present progressive
• immediate future
• future

Intransitive verbs in Kalam can be classified as either active or stative. Some active intransitive verbs are:

• am- ‘go’
• kn- ‘sleep’
• jak- ‘stand, dance’
• kum- ‘die, cease to function’

Some stative verbs are:

• pag- ‘(of things) break, be broken’
• sug- ‘(of a fire) go out’
• yn- ‘burn, be burnt, fully cooked’
• wk- ‘(of solid objects and surfaces) crack, burst, shatter’

Transitivity is derived using resultative or cause-effect serial verb constructions.

Other serial verb constructions in Kalam include:

• d ap (get come) ‘bring’
• d am (get go) ‘take’
• am d ap (go get come) ‘fetch’
• d nŋ (touch perceive) ‘feel’
• ñb nŋ (eat perceive) ‘taste’
• tb tk (cut sever) ‘cut off’

Some examples of nominal compounds in Kalam:

Fauna classification (folk taxonomy) in the Kalam language has been extensively studied by Ralph Bulmer and others. Kalam speakers classify wild mammals into three major categories:

• kmn ‘game mammals, larger wild mammals’: tree kangaroos, wallabies, cuscuses, ringtail possums, giant rats, and bandicoots
• as ‘small wild mammals’: most bush-rats, sugar gliders, and pygmy possums (including Pogonomys spp., Melomys spp., and Phascolosorex dorsalis)
• kopyak ‘dirty rats’ (Rattus spp.)

Other animal categories are:

• yakt ‘flying birds and bats’
• kobti ‘cassowaries’
• kaj ‘pigs’ (formerly including cattle, horses, and goats when first encountered by the Kalam)
• kayn ‘dogs’
• soyŋ ‘certain snakes’
• yñ ‘skinks’

Rodent names include:

• House Rat (Rattus exulans, Rattus niobe, Rattus ruber) – kopyak ~ kupyak
• Garden Rat (Rattus ruber) – kopyak gulbodu
• Long-snouted Rat (Rattus verecundus) – sjaŋ
• Small Mountain Rat (Rattus niobe) – katgn
• Prehensile-tailed Rat (Bush-tailed Giant Rat) (Pogonomelomys sevia) – ymgenm ~ yamganm, beŋtud, gtkep
• Giant Bamboo Rat (Rothschild's Woolly Rat) (Mallomys rothschildi) – mosak; aloñ, kabkal, maklek
• Giant Cane Rat (Hyomys goliath) – mumuk
• Grassland Melomys Rat (Melomys rufescens) – alks
• Lorentz's Rat (Melomys lorentzii, Melomys platyops) – mug; moys (M. lorentzii spreads Pandanus julianettii (alŋaw) seeds, according to the Kalam)
• rat that feeds on pandanus nuts (Anisomys imitator) – gudi-ws ~ gudl-ws
• Highland Giant Tree Rat (Uromys anak) – abben
• Lowland Giant Tree Rat (Uromys caudimaculatus) – kabkal
• Mountain Water-rat (Hydromys shawmayeri) – kuypep kuykuy-sek
• Waterside Rat (Parahydromys asper) – godmg, ñabap
• Earless Water Rat (Crossomys moncktoni) – kuypep
• small rat, found near homesteads – walcegon

Marsupial names include:

• Pseudochirops corinnae (Golden or Stationary Ringtail) – wcm; puŋi-mdep; wlpog
• Pseudochirops cupreus (Copper Ringtail) – ymduŋ; bald, kagm, kas-gs, tglem-tud
• Pseudochirulus forbesi – (Painted Ringtail) – skoyd; boñay
• Cercartetus caudatus (Pygmy Possum) – sumsum
• Dactylopsila palpator (Mountain striped possum, Long-fingered Triok) – blc
• Echymipera sp. – ? yaked
• Phalanger carmelitae (Black Mountain Cuscus) – maygot, ? yng-tud
• Phalanger gymnotis (Ground Cuscus) – madaw; ket-ketm, kñm
• Phalanger maculatus – aklaŋ; aklaŋ kawl-kas-ket, aklaŋ pk, gabi, takp
• Phalanger orientalis – ? madaw, ? takp
• Phalanger permixteo – ? kmn sbi
• Phalanger sericeus (Silky Cuscus, Beech Cuscus) – atwak; añ, beŋ-tud
• Phalanger sp. – sbi, yaked
• Spilocuscus maculatus – takp
• Microperoryctes longicauda (Long-tailed Bandicoot) – wgi; amgln, weñem
• Peroryctes raffrayana (Hunting Bandicoot) – pakam
• Phascolosorex dorsalis – aln; may also refer to Antechinus melanurus (Marsupial Rat)
• Dasyurus albopunctatus (New Guinea Quoll, Marsupial Cat) – suatg
• Dendrolagus goodfellowi (Tree Kangaroo) - kabacp, kabcp
• Petaurus breviceps (Sugar Glider) – aymows, kajben, yegaŋ
• Thylogale brunii (Bush Wallaby) – kutwal ~ kotwal
• Dorcopsulus vanheurni (Small Forest Wallaby, Common Mountain Forest Wallaby) - sgaw

Reptile names and folk taxonomy in Kalam:

• yñ: reptiles
  • yñ yb: familiar small lizards
    • yñ ladk: gecko
    • yñ yb: skink
      • yñ yb: colonial skinks
        • kls: Papuascincus stanleyanus, Common skink
        • mabdagol: Papuascincus stanleyanus, Red-tailed skink
        • mas: Emoia spp., Ant skinks (including E. baudini [most common], E. pallidiceps, and perhaps also E. kordoana)
      • yñ ladk: non-colonial skinks
        • sydn: Prasinohaema prehensicauda, Casuarina skink
          • sydn km: Green casuarina skink
          • sydn mlep: Brown casuarina skink
        • mañmod: Prasinohaema flavipes, Tree skink
        • pymakol: Lobulia elegans, Beech skink
        • mamŋ: Sphenomorphus darlingtoni, Begonia skink
        • komñ: Sphenomorphus sp.nr. jobiensis, Bush skink
        • ñgñolom: Sphenomorphus leptofasciatus, Banded skink
        • wowy: Lepidodactylus sp., Common gecko
  • yñ ladk: reptiles other than familiar small lizards
    • aypot: Hypsilurus nigrigularis, Dragon lizard
    • wbl: Varanus spp.
      • wbl km: Varanus prasinus, Emerald monitor
      • wbl yb: Varanus indicus, Water monitor
    • ñom: snakes
      • soyŋ; ñom: relatively harmless snakes
        • klŋan: Chondropython viridis, Green python
        • soyŋ: ordinary snakes, Tropidonophis montanus, Toxicocalamus loriae, etc.
          • soyŋ yb
          • soyŋ pok: reddish snake
          • soyŋ mosb: dark green snake
      • sataw: terrifying serpents
        • ymgwp: Python spp.
        • nm: Python amethistinus, Giant python
        • jjoj: snake sp.
        • kodkl: Acanthophis laevis, Death adder (?)
        • sataw: Micropechis ikaheca, Small-eyed snake (?)
        • other terrifying reptiles

Frog names in Kalam are:

• Litoria angiana (various phenotypes): komnaŋat, jejeg, (jejeg) pkay, kawag
  • komnaŋat: bright green polymorph; usually found in Saurauia spp. and Ficus dammaropsis
  • kawag: dark green or black polymorph
  • jejeg: four types:
    • jejeg pkay: polymorph with reddish belly
    • jejeg mj-kmab or jejeg km: bright green polymorph
    • jejeg mlep: dull brown polymorph
    • jejeg mosb: black polymorph
• Litoria arfakiana: daŋboŋ
• Litoria modica (or Litoria becki): wyt
• Litoria micromembrana: kosoj
• Litoria bulmeri: kogop
• Nyctimystes disruptus: kwyos, gepgep
  • kiwos: red-bellied polymorphs
• Nyctimystes foricula: gojmay (also bin-pk)
• Nyctimystes kubori: kwelek
• Nyctimystes narinosus: mabas
• Nyctimystes sp.: kabanm
• Oxydactyla brevicrus: kabanm
• Cophixalus parkeri: kabanm [mature], lk (including bopnm) [immature]
• Cophixalus riparius: gwnm
• Cophixalus shellyi: gwnm sbmganpygak
• Choerophryne variegata: lk (including bopnm)
• Asterophrys sp.: gwnm
• Xenorhina rostrata: gwnm
• Barygenys sp.: gwnm sbmganpygak
• Papurana grisea: akpt, cebs

Note: Cophixalus shellyi, Choerophryne darlingtoni, and Oxydactyla brevicrus also tend to be identified by Kalam speakers as lk if calling from low vegetation, but as gwnm (usually applied to Cophixalus riparius and Xenorhina rostrata) if found in daytime hiding spots.

Plant categories include:

• mon ‘trees and shrubs’ (excluding palms and pandans); e.g., bljan ‘Macaranga spp.’ is a mon that has four named kinds
• mñ ‘vines and robust creepers’

A comprehensive list of Kalam plant and animal names is given below.

Kalam speakers distinguish more than a dozen color categories.

• tud ‘white, light coloured’
• sum ‘grey, esp. of hair’
• tun ‘light grey; ash’
• mosb ‘black, dark coloured’
• lkañ ‘red/purple; blood’
• pk ‘orange/bright reddish-brown/bright yellowish-brown/rich yellow; ripe’
• sml ‘rather bright red-brown/yellow brown’
• waln ‘yellow’
• mjkmab ‘green’
• ksk ‘pale green, yellow-green; unripe (of fruit)’
• lban ‘rich green, sheeny; succulent or mature (of foliage)’
• gs ‘dull brown, green or olive’
• mlp ‘straw coloured; withered (of foliage)’
• muk ‘blue’
• sŋak ‘blue-grey, as blue-grey clay’
• kl ‘striped, spotted, mottled’

Pawley and Bulmer (2011), quoted in Pawley and Hammarström (2018), lists the following temporal adverbs in Kalam.

• mñi ‘today’
• toy ‘tomorrow’
• (toy) menk ‘day after tomorrow’
• toytk ‘yesterday’
• menk atk ‘day before yesterday’
• goson ‘3 days from today’
• goson atk ‘3 days ago’
• ason ‘4 days from today’
• ason atk ‘4 days ago’
• goson ason ‘5 days from today’
• goson ason atk ‘5 days ago’

Kalam, like English, has different types of rhyming compounds.

alternating consonants

• gadal-badal [ŋgándálmbándál] ‘placed in a disorderly manner, criss-cross, higgledy-piggledy’
• gley-wley [ŋgɨléywuléy] ‘rattling, clattering’

addition of consonants

• adk-madk [ándɨkmándɨk] ‘turned over, reversed’
• ask-mask [ásɨkmásɨk] ‘ritually restricted’

alternating vowels

• ñugl-ñagl [ɲúŋgɨlɲáŋgɨl] ‘sound of evening chorus of insects and frogs’
• gtiŋ-gtoŋ [ŋgɨríŋgɨróŋ] ‘loud noise, din, racket’

• Ralph Bulmer
• Ian Saem Majnep

• Andrew Pawley and Ralph Bulmer. 2011. A dictionary of Kalam with ethnographic notes. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

• Bulmer, Ralph N.H. 1967. Why is the cassowary not a bird? A problem of zoological taxonomy among the Karam of the New Guinea highlands. Man 2(1): 5–25.
• Bulmer, Ralph N.H. 1968. Kalam colour categories. Kivung 1(3): 120–133.
• Bulmer, Ralph N.H. 1974. Folk biology in the New Guinea highlands. Social Science Information 13(4/5): 9–28.
• Bulmer, Ralph N.H. and J.I. Menzies. 1972–1973. Kalam classification of marsupials and rodents. Journal of the Polynesian Society 81(4): 472–499, 82(1):86–107.
• Bulmer, Ralph N.H. and Michael Tyler. 1968. Karam classification of frogs. Journal of the Polynesian Society 77(4): 621–639.
• Bulmer, Ralph N.H., J.I. Menzies and F. Parker. 1975. Kalam classification of reptiles and fish. Journal of the Polynesian Society 84(3): 267–308.
• Majnep, Ian Saem and Ralph Bulmer. 1977. Birds of my Kalam Country. Auckland: Auckland and Oxford University Presses.
• Majnep, Ian Saem and Ralph Bulmer. 2007. Animals the Ancestors Hunted: An Account of the Wild Mammals of the Kalam Area, Papua New Guinea. Adelaide: Crawford House Australia.