Lungalunga language

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Lungalunga (Lunga Lunga), frequently though ambiguously called Minigir, is spoken by a small number of the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province. It is often referred to in the linguistics literature as the Tolai "dialect" with an /s/.

Lungalunga
Minigir
Vinitiri
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionGazelle Peninsula, East New Britain Province
Ethnicity6,000 (2012)[1]
Native speakers
6,000 (2012)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3vmg
Glottologmini1251

Classification

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Lungalunga belongs to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family. The most immediate subgroup is the Patpatar–Tolai group of languages which also includes Kuanua (also spoken on the Gazelle Peninsula) and Patpatar (spoken on New Ireland).

A "Tolai-Nakanai trade language" reported in the literature was apparently not a pidgin as assumed, but Minigir (Lungalunga) with perhaps some Meramera or Nakanai mixed in.[2]

Geographic distribution

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Lungalunga is spoken on Ataliklikun Bay, in the villages of Lungalunga, Kabaira and Vunamarita, located on the Gazelle Peninsula in the East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea.

Grammar

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Independent pronouns

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Lungalunga pronouns have four number distinctions (singular, dual, trial and plural) and three person distinctions (first, second and third) as well as an inclusive and exclusive distinction. There are no gender distinctions.

Singular Dual Trial Plural
1st exclusive iau
(I)
iamiru
(he/she and I)
iamitalu
(both of them, and I)
iamamami
(all of them, and I)
1st inclusive - iadori
(thou and I)
iadatalu
(both of you, and I)
iada
(all of you, and I)
2nd iavau
(thou)
iamuru
(you two)
iamutalu
(you three)
iamui
(you guys)
3rd ia
(he/she)
idiru
(they two)
iditalu
(they three)
idi
(they)

Syntax

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The usual word order of Lungalunga is subject–verb–object (SVO).

References

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  1. ^ a b Lungalunga at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
  2. ^ Tom Dutton, "Other pidgins in Papua New Guinea", in Wurm et al. (1996) Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas, vol 1:216, fn 1
  • Lynch, John; Malcolm Ross; Terry Crowley (2002). The Oceanic Languages. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. ISBN 978-0-7007-1128-4. OCLC 48929366.
  • Ross, Malcolm (1988). Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 978-0-85883-367-8. OCLC 20100109.