Kuanua is spoken by the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province. (This language is often referred to in the literature as Tolai. However, Tolai is actually the name of the cultural group.) Gazelle Peninsula seen from space Gazelle Peninsula is a large peninsula in northeastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea, at . ... East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific ( with a few members spoken on continental Asia). ... The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages. ... Oceanic may mean: of or relating to the ocean of or relating to Oceania a person or the peoples of Oceania, such as Micronesians and Polynesians. ... For alternate uses, see Saint George (disambiguation) Saint George on horseback rides alongside a wounded dragon being led by a princess, late 19th century engraving. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of sounds and the human voice. ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Tolai are the indigenous people of the Gazelle Peninsula and the Duke of York Islands of East New Britain in the New Guinea Islands region of Papua New Guinea. ... Gazelle Peninsula seen from space Gazelle Peninsula is a large peninsula in northeastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea, at . ... East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea. ...

Unlike many languages in Papua New Guinea, Kuanua is a healthy language and not in danger of dying out to Tok Pisin. It is considered a prestigious language and is the primary language of communication in the two major centers of East New Britain: Kokopo and Rabaul. Tok Pisin (tok means word or speech, pisin means pidgin) is the creole spoken in Papua New Guinea (PNG). ... Kokopo is the capital of East New Britain in Papua New Guinea. ... A view from Rabaul Volcano Observatory across the relatively undamaged western half of Rabaul and towards Tavurur Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, was the headquarters of German New Guinea and then the Australian mandatory territory of New Guinea from 1910 until 1937, the base of Japanese activities in the South Pacific...

Classification

Kuanua belongs to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family. The most immediate subgroup is the Patpatar-Tolai group of languages which also includes Minigir (also spoken on the Gazelle Peninsula) and Patpatar (spoken on New Ireland). Oceanic may mean: of or relating to the ocean of or relating to Oceania a person or the peoples of Oceania, such as Micronesians and Polynesians. ... The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific ( with a few members spoken on continental Asia). ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... New Ireland is an island in the Pacific, and the most northeastern province of Papua New Guinea. ...

Geographic distribution

Kuanua is spoken on the Gazelle Peninsula in the East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea.

Derived languages

Kuanua is said to be one of the major substratum languages of Tok Pisin. Some common Tok Pisin vocabulary items that likely come from Kuanua (or a closely related language) include: In linguistics, a substratum (lat. ...

aibika (from ibika) - Hisbiscus manihot
buai - betelnut
guria - earthquake
kawawar (from kavavar) - ginger
kiau - egg
lapun - elderly person
umben (from uben) - fishing net
Binomial name Areca catechu Linnaeus Areca nut, or pinang, more commonly known as betel nut, is the seed of the betel palm or Areca catechu, a species of palm tree which grows throughout the Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. ... An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy in the crust that propagates seismic waves. ... Binomial name Zingiber officinale Roscoe Though called a root, it is actually the rhizome of the monocotyledonous perennial plant Zingiber officinale. ... Fishing with a net. ...

Grammar

Independent Pronouns

Kuanua pronouns have four number distinctions (singular number, dual number, trial number and plural number) and three person distinctions (first person, second person and third person) as well as an inclusive/exclusive distinction. There are no gender distinctions. A number is an abstract entity that represents a count or measurement. ... Dual is the grammatical number used for two referents. ... ... A person is defined by philosophers as a being who is in possession of a range of psychological capacities that are regarded as both necessary and sufficient to fulfill the requirements of personhood. ... ... Grammatical person, in linguistics, is used for the grammatical categories a language uses to describe the relationship between the speaker and the persons or things she is talking about. ... Grammatical person, in linguistics, is used for the grammatical categories a language uses to describe the relationship between the speaker and the persons or things she is talking about. ... The term inclusive, in a mathematical context, denotes that the endpoints of a set are included within that set. ... In the description of a mathematical set, the term exclusive denotes that the endpoints of a range are not included within the set. ... The gender symbols used to denote a male or female organism. ...

Syntax

The usual word order of Kuanua is SVO. SVO is an acronym for several terms: SVO denotes the sequence Subject Verb Object in Linguistic typology. ...

References

Mosel, Ulrike. (1984). Tolai syntax and its historical development. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Lynch, John, Malcolm Ross & Terry Crowley. (2002). The Oceanic languages. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. This article is about the Governor of New Hampshire. ... Malcolm Ross is a linguist and professor at the Australian National University. ... Terry Crowley (1953-2005) was a linguist specializing in Oceanic languages. ...

External links

• Ethnologue report for Kuanua
• Language Museum page on Kuanua
• Kuanua in the Rosetta Project