Monumbo language
Monumbo is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. There is an early description in German. It is closely related to Lilau.
Phonology
Mambuwan consonants are:
Mambuwan vowels are:
Grammar
Monumbo distinguishes five gender classes for singular and dual third-person pronouns, but only two gender classes (masculine and feminine) for third-person plural pronouns, a typologically unusual feature. There are five genders for the third-person pronoun, which are masculine, feminine, neutral, diminutive, and miscellaneous genders.
Mambuwan subject agreement prefixes are:
Mambuwan has a general oblique case marker –unum ~ -Cusum for nouns:
- ŋait-unum
- fire-OBL
- ‘in/at/with/through fire’
Mambuwan also makes use of postpositions such as ŋaŋ ‘inside’:
- su ŋaŋ
- water inside
- ‘in the water’
Mambuwan has highly complex verbal inflection.
Nouns
Some Mambuwan nouns and their respective plural forms: