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Karkar-Yuri is not related to any other language in Papua New Guinea, and was therefore long thought to be a language isolate. This is the position of Wurm (1983), Foley (1986), and Ross (2005). However, Timothy Usher noticed that it is transparently related to the Pauwasi languages across the border in Indonesia. Indeed, it may even form a dialect continuum with the Eastern Pauwasi language Emem. This was foreshadowed in non-linguistic literature: a 1940 map shows the 'Enam' (Emem)–speaking area as including the Karkar territory in PNG, and the anthropologist Hanns Peter knew that the Karkar dialect continuum continued across the border into Emem territory.[2]
Stress assignment is complex, but not phonemic within morphemes. Syllable structure is CVC, assuming nasal–plosive sequences are analyzed as prenasalized consonants.
Vowels
Karkar has a vowel inventory consisting of 11 vowels, which is considered very high for a Papuan language.
Karkar vowels
Front
Central
Back
Close
i
ɨ
u
Close-mid
e
ə
o
Mid
ɛ
ɔ
Open-mid
ɐ
Open
ɑ
There is also one diphthong, ao/ɒɔ/. Vowels are written á/ɐ/, é/ə/, ae/ɛ/, o/ɔ/, ou/o/, ɨ/ɨ/.
Foley (2018) lists the 11 Karkar-Yuri vowels as:[3]: 370
Front
Central
Back
Close
i
ɨ
u
Mid
e
ə
o
Near-open
æ
ʌ
ɔ
Open
a
ɒ
Some vowel height contrasts in Karkar-Yuri (Foley 2018):[3]: 370
ki ‘yam’
kɨ ‘loosen’
ku ‘cut crosswise in half’
ke ‘edible nut’
kər ‘put in netbag’
ko ‘pig’
kæ ‘egg’
kʌʔr ‘swamp’
kɔ ‘again’
kar ‘speech’
kɒ ‘bird species’
There are four contrasting central vowel heights:[3]: 370
The rhotics and glottal(ized) consonants do not appear initially in a word, and plain /t/, the approximants, and the labialized consonants do not occur finally. Glottal stop only occurs finally. Final k spirantizes to [x]. Plosives are voiced intervocalically. Intervocalic f and p neutralize to [β] (apart from a few names, where [f] is retained), and intervocalic k is voiced to [ɣ]. Phonemic labialized stops only occur in two words, apwar 'weeds, to weed' and ankwap 'another'. [contradictory] Otherwise consonants are labialized between a rounded and a front vowel, as in pok-ea[pɔɣʷeɑ] 'going up'. In some words, the plosive of a final NC is silent unless suffixed: onomp[ɔnɔm̚] 'my', onompono[ɔnɔmbɔnɔ] 'it's mine'.
Prenasalized and labialized consonant contrasts:[3]: 370
pi ‘bird tail’, pwi ‘enough’, mporan ‘tomorrow’
kar ‘voice’, ŋkɔte ‘over there’, kwar ‘ground’, ŋkwakwo ‘many kinds’
Plain and preglottalized sonorants contrasts, which only occur in word finals:[3]: 370
Object forms take -an, sometimes replacing the -o: onan, amoan, man, yinan, námoan, yumoan.Mao is a demonstrative 'that one, those'; it contrasts with nko, nkoan 'the other one(s)'.
^ abcdefghFoley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". 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. 197–432. ISBN978-3-11-028642-7.
