Nagovisi, or Sibe, is a South Bougainville language spoken in the mountains of southern Bougainville Province, Papua New Guinea.

Nagovisi
Sibe
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionBougainville Province
Native speakers
12,000 (2018)[1]
South Bougainville
  • Nasioiic
    • Nagovisi
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3nco
Glottologsibe1248
ELPSibe

Morphology

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Nagovisi makes use of noun class suffixes, which are:[2]

Noun class suffix Noun class semantics Example (with demonstrative a-) Gloss of example
-bore round things, including balls, coins, coconuts, fruit, betelnut, cooking pots, garamut drums moo a-bore-ka' ‘that coconut’
-mai dogs, cats, horses, knives, forks, spoons, axes and other tools moska a-mai-ka' ‘that dog’
-möö people, birds, fish, small animals, insects, reptiles kokoree' a-möö-ka' ‘that chicken’
-visi houses, buildings, canoes, ships, cars pawa a-visi-ga' ‘that house’
-woro' pigs, cows pooro' a-woro-ka' ‘that pig’
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References

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  1. ^ Nagovisi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
  2. ^ Stebbins, Tonya; Evans, Bethwyn; Terrill, Angela (2018). "The Papuan languages of Island Melanesia". 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. 775–894. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.