Doromu language explained

Doromu
Nativename:Doromu-Koki
States:Papua New Guinea
Region:Central Province
Speakers:2000
Date:2018
Ref:e25
Familycolor:Papuan
Fam1:Trans–New Guinea
Fam2:Manubaran
Iso3:kqc
Glotto:doro1266
Glottorefname:Doromu-Koki
Glottofoot:no
Dia1:Doromu
Dia2:Koki

Doromu, or Doromu-Koki, is a Manubaran language spoken in the "Bird's Tail" of Papua New Guinea. Doromu has about 1,500 native speakers with half of them living in the capital, Port Moresby. It has three varieties: Koki, Kokila and Koriko.

Phonology

pronounced as /notice/Doromu has 17 phonemes: 12 are consonants and 5 are vowels.[1]

Consonants

Below is a chart of Doromu consonants.

Table of consonant phonemes of Doromu
LabialCoronalVelar
Stoppronounced as /b/pronounced as /tʰ/ pronounced as /d/pronounced as /kʰ/ pronounced as /q/ pronounced as /g/
Nasalpronounced as /m/pronounced as /n/
Fricativepronounced as /f/ pronounced as /β/pronounced as /s/
Tappronounced as /ɾ/
Approximantpronounced as /j/

Vowels

Below is a chart of Doromu vowels.

Doromu Vowels
FrontBack
Highpronounced as /i/pronounced as /u/
Midpronounced as /ɛ/ pronounced as /[ɛ]/ pronounced as /[e]/pronounced as /o/
Lowpronounced as /a/

Orthography

From March 18 to March 25 of 2002 in Kasonomu village the current orthography was developed during the Doromu Alphabet Design Workshop. The orthography developed from this workshop were discussed with various areas in the language group and were agreed upon. One problem was how borrowed words with letters not contained in the Doromu orthography would be dealt with. The proposed solution from the native speakers was to spell the loan words as they are spelled in their original language.

[2]
Uppercase lettersA B D E F G I K M N O R S T U V Y
Lowercase lettersa b d e f g i k m n o r s t u v y
IPApronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/

Verbs

In Doromu verbs may have suffixes, which affect tense, aspect, mood, or switch reference.

Tense affixes

Past Tense

Present Tense

Past Tense

Colors

Below is a table of the names of different colors in Doromu.

DoromuEnglish
blublue
borayellow, orange
braunbrown
feowhite
gabublack, blue, brown
kakared, purple
vegugreen

The words 'blu' and 'braun' are borrowed from another language. The word 'kaka' can also mean ripe. While 'vegu' is also a noun which means 'life'. 'Kamaidaforo' is the word meaning 'colorful, attractive, glittery, sparkling'.

Numbers

EnglishDoromuLiteral Meaning
oneyokoi
tworemanu
threeregode
fourvana rarohand line
fivevana berou autuhand side empty
sixvana berou autu yokoi makahand side empty one only
sevenvana berou autu remanuhand side empty two
eightvana berou autu regodehand side empty three
ninevana berou autu vana rarohand side empty hand line
tenvana ufohand clap (two hands together)

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Bradshaw, Robert. Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages Doromu-Koki Grammar Sketch. SIL-PNG Academic Publications Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea. 2012.
  2. Orthography and Phonology Description. Bradshaw. Robert. 25 June 2002. SIL International.