| Korafe | |
| Also Known As: | Korafe-Yegha |
| Nativename: | Gaina |
| States: | Papua New Guinea |
| Region: | Oro Province |
| Speakers: | 1,400 Gaina and Bareji |
| Speakers2: | 3,600 Korafe and Yegha (2003) |
| Date: | 1971 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Trans–New Guinea |
| Fam2: | Binanderean |
| Lc1: | kpr |
| Ld1: | Korafe-Yegha |
| Lc2: | gcn |
| Ld2: | Gaina-Bareji |
| Dia1: | Korafe |
| Dia2: | Yegha[1] |
| Dia3: | Gaina |
| Dia4: | Bareji[2] |
| Glotto: | gaen1235 |
| Glottorefname: | Gaena–Korafe |
Korafe is a Papuan language spoken in Oro Province, in the "tail" of Papua New Guinea. It is part of the Binanderean family of the Trans–New Guinea phylum of languages. Korafe or could also be called Kailikaili, Kaire, Korafe, Korafi, Korape, and Kwarafe is a language spoken in the Oro Province more specifically in the Tufi District, and Cape Nelson Headlands.
Korafe has been heavily influenced by Oceanic languages.[3]
For the people that lived of the Korafe language lived with three main principles:
The Korafe people are a people that live in a mainly tribal manner as they wear very outlandish headgear as well as many other types of jewelry not commonly found anywhere else. The people were rich in culture and that can be seen within the complexity in the Korafe Language.
| Plosive | b | t d | k g | ||
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Tap or Flap | r | ||||
| Fricative | f v | s | ç | γ | |
| Approximant | j |
| Open | a | |||
| Mid | e̞ | o̞ | ||
| Close | i | u |
| Uppercase letters | A | B | D | E | F | G | Gh | I | J | K | M | N | O | R | S | T | U | V | Y | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowercase letters | a | b | d | e | f | g | gh | I | j | k | m | n | o | r | s | t | u | v | y | |
| IPA | 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/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
The Korafe language has primarily SOV or Subject-Object-Verb word order. An example of the use of Subject-Object-Verb word order is shown below:
| Korafe | na | ni | nu | ne |
| Korafe | ave/mave | re | ningi | ninge |
For stem verbs I the structure of that verb would be said root word followed by -e, -i, or -u.
Stem II verbs are normally somewhat close to Stem I verbs but with a few changes whether it be a vowel shift, reduplication etc. Normally, removes one of the vowels which are most likely -u, or -i
Verbs follow serial verb construction, or basically using more than 1 verb next to each other in a clause.
When creating a positive deverbal it is a root word followed by the suffix -ari.
Negative versions of Positive Deverbals are the same structurally but just has a different suffix which for negatives is -ae
In Korafe only one heavy syllable is allowed (vv in the Rhyme)
Almost all imperfective verbs will use the -ere rules
2. Verb is stem two but have longer configurations such as VCVCV, CVCVCV, VNCVCV, CYNCVCV. In this case the -ere rule applies by having the root word followed by -ere.
Some phrases and expressions can be made with the use nominals and verbs together.
| isoro e | war make | 'wage war on enemies' | |
| saramana e | work do | 'work' | |
| dubo mema e | neck pain do | 'feel sad, grieve' | |
| Baiboro se | Bible say | 'promise on the Bible' | |
| kori se | shout say | 'shout' | |
| tirotaroghe | ripples do again | ' slosh, ripple, lap' | |
| (bain) bainghe | nod do again | 'nod off, bow head' |
The epenthetic rules are used in order to avoid changing the meaning of words that would be changed from suffixes.
For r-insertion it is normally used between the stem II verb and the -uru
For this case an r is inserted between the stem II verb and the suffix -arira (will)
| possessor | noun/nominal compound | (qualifier) (quantifier) (determiner) |