| Adzera | |
| Region: | Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea |
| Speakers: | ca. 30,000 |
| Date: | 2000 census |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | Oceanic |
| Fam4: | Western Oceanic |
| Fam5: | North New Guinea ? |
| Fam6: | Ngero–Vitiaz ? |
| Fam7: | Huon Gulf |
| Fam8: | Markham |
| Fam9: | Upper |
| Script: | Latin |
| Lc1: | adz |
| Ld1: | Adzera |
| Lc2: | zsu |
| Ld2: | Sukurum |
| Lc3: | zsa |
| Ld3: | Sarasira |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Glotto: | adze1240 |
| Glottoname: | Adzera |
| Glotto2: | suku1264 |
| Glottoname2: | Sukurum |
| Glotto3: | sara1323 |
| Glottoname3: | Sarasira |
Adzera (also spelled Atzera, Azera, Atsera, Acira) is an Austronesian language spoken by about 30,000 people in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.
Holzknecht (1989) lists six Adzera dialects.[1]
Sukurum is spoken in the villages of Sukurum (-6.2763°N 146.4767°W), Rumrinan (-6.2778°N 146.4766°W), Gabagiap (-6.2894°N 146.466°W), Gupasa, Waroum (-6.2872°N 146.4538°W), and Wangat (-6.3531°N 146.4185°W) in Wantoat/Leron Rural LLG.[1]
Sarasira is spoken in the villages of Sarasira (-6.321°N 146.483°W), Som (-6.3238°N 146.5075°W), Pukpuk, Saseang (-6.4188°N 146.4169°W), and Sisuk in Wantoat/Leron Rural LLG. Sarasira and Som share the same speech variety.[1]
| High | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Low | pronounced as /link/ | ||
pronounced as //o// does not occur in the Amari and Ngarowapum dialects.
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| prenasal vl. | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| prenasal vd. | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
In the Amari dialect, palato-alveolar affricates pronounced as //tʃ, ⁿtʃ// and pronounced as /dʒ, ⁿdʒ/ are heard as only alveolar sounds pronounced as /[ts, ⁿts]/ and pronounced as /[dz, ⁿdz]/.
The prenasalized consonants tend to lose prenasalization initially and after consonants.
pronounced as //tʃ ⁿtʃ// are sometimes realized as pronounced as /[ts ⁿts]/, especially in codas.
| A a | B b | D d | F f | G g | H h | I i | K k | M m | N n | Ndz ndz | Nt nt | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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/ | |
| P p | R r | S s | T t | U u | W w | Y y | ʼ | |||||||
| 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 letter ŋ was replaced by the digraph ng in the 2015 orthography.[2]
Simple negation in Adzera is achieved by the word imaʔ 'no'. This word can be used on its own in response to a question, or paired with a negative sentence. For example:
The Amari dialect of Adzera is specifically noted for its use of namu for 'no' where all other Adzera dialects would use imaʔ. however, in Amari both words can be used interchangeably.
The simple negative forms above can be used in a noun phrase after the noun to modify it. Such as mamaʔ namu '
Most negation is done through the verb phrase. For general circumstances, verbal negation is achieved by a verbal prefix anuŋʔ- And an optional negation particle u at the end of the sentence. For example:
However, for verbs in the imperative or hortative forms, which take a prefix wa- or na- respectively, the negative is achieved by replacing their respective prefixes with a negative form ma- followed at the end of the sentence by a compulsory particle maʔ.
When two negative verbs or phrases are joined by da ‘and’ the first verb takes the negative prefix anuŋʔ-, and the negative particle u comes at the end of the whole sentence.
When negating a sentence in the future tense, the future tense prefix is replaced with the realis prefix. Any future time marking still remains. There is also a preference toward forming negative sentences in the future tense with an auxiliary verb saŋʔ 'be able, be enough' before the main verb of the sentence, suggesting a reluctance toward making negative statements about the future. For example:
When coordinating two sentences of future tense, the first verb phrase replaces the future prefix with the realis, but all following verb phrases retain their future tense marking.
see List of Glossing Abbreviations.
Below is a list of Grammatical abbreviations used throughout this article:
| Grammatical Abbreviations | ||
|---|---|---|
| NEG | Negative | |
| 1SG | 1st Person Singular | |
| REAL | Realis | |
| PTCP | Participle | |
| 2SG | 2nd Person Singular | |
| COMP | Completive | |
| IMP | Imperative | |
COMP:completive aspectTIME:time marker