Tehit is a Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea. Other spellings are Tahit, Tehid, and other names Kaibus, Teminabuan. The dialects are Fkar, Imyan, Mbol Fle, Saifi, Sawiat Salmeit, Sfa Riere, and Tehit Jit.
Subdivisions
Subgroups
Major Tehit ethnic subgroups:
Tehit Afsya
Tehit Mlafle
Tehit Mlakya
Tehit Konda
Tehit Nakna
Tehit Imian
Tehit Nasfa
Tehit Ogit (Yaben)
Tehit Nerigo
Tehit Srer
Tehit Imian Slaya
Tehit Imian Salmit Klawsa
Tehit Salmit Klawsa
Tehit Sawiat
Tehit Mla Flassi
Tehit Mla Srit
Tehit Wakya
Tehit Gemna
Tehit Sfa
Tehit Fkar (Fkour)
Locations of some Tehit subgroups:
Tehit Mlafle and Tehit Mlakya, in Teminabuan District: Kaibus, Werisar, Keyen, Boldon, Seribau, Srer, and Sria villages.
Tehit Konda, in Konda District: Konda, Mnaelek, and Mbariat villages.
Tehit Nakya, in Saifi District: Malaswat, Manggroholo, Sira, Kwowok, Komanggaret, Sayal, Kayabo, Botaen, Sisir, and Knaya villages.
Tehit Imian, in Seremuk District: Gamaro, Tofot, Haha, Woloin, and Kakas villages.
Tehit Nasfa, in Sawiyat District: Wenslolo, Wensnahan, Wensi villages.
A schwa [ə] vowel sound is said to occur only in pretonic positions, which means in syllables preceding the stressed syllable. It is always heard as unstressed, and always in between consonant sounds.
/i/ can be heard as [ɪ] when preceding a word-final /ɾ/, and as [ɨ] when preceding vowel sounds /a, o/ within the onset of a labial consonant.
/e/ can be heard as [ɛ] when in closed syllables.
/o/ may also have an allophone of [u] when in closed syllables within a labial consonantal onset with a back coda consonant.
Morphology
Tehit has four grammatical genders, which are masculine, feminine, plural, and neuter. Examples:
Gender prefixes in Tehit can not only be used to denote gender, but also size, wholeness, and the stability of appearances. Masculine gender is associated with small size, parts of wholes, and changing appearances, while feminine gender is associated with large size, wholeness, and stable appearances. Examples (from Flassy 1991: 10–12):
123Ronsumbre, Adolof (2020). Ensiklopedia Suku Bangsa di Provinsi Papua Barat. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kepel Press. ISBN978-602-356-318-0.
12Hesse, Ronald (2000). Tehit. In Ger P. Reesink (ed.), Studies in Irian Languages: Part II: Jakarta, Indonesia: Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. pp.25–33.
↑Hesse, Ronald (1993). Imyan Tehit Phonology. Grand Forks: Univ. of North Dakota.
↑Hesse, Ronald (1995). Syllable structure in Imyan Tehit. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 26. pp.101–171.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian (2018). "The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird's Head". 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.569–640. ISBN978-3-11-028642-7.
Further reading
Flassy, Don A. L.; Stokhof, W. A. L. (1979). "A Note on Tehit (Bird's Head – Irian Jaya)"(PDF). In Amran Halim (ed.). Miscellaneous Studies in Indonesian and Languages in Indonesia, Part VI. NUSA 7. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. pp.35–83.
Flassy, Don A. L. (1991). Grammar Sketch of Tehit: A Toror language, the West Doberai Peninsula, New Guinea (Irian Jaya) (MA thesis). Leiden University.
Hesse, Ronald (1993). Imyan Tehit Phonology (MA thesis). University of North Dakota.
Hesse, Ronald (2000). "Tehit"(PDF). In Reesink, Ger P. (ed.). Studies in Irian Languages, Part II. NUSA 47. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. pp.25–33.
