The Kol language is a language spoken in eastern New Britain island, Papua New Guinea. There are about 4000 speakers in Pomio District of East New Britain Province, mostly on the southern side of New Britain island.[2]
| Kol | |
|---|---|
| Region | East New Britain Province |
Native speakers | (4,000 cited 1991)[1] |
Language family | language isolate |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kol |
| Glottolog | kolp1236 |
| ELP | Kol |
Kol appears to be a language isolate, though it may be distantly related to the poorly attested Sulka language or form part of the proposed East Papuan languages.[3]
Phonology of the Kol language:[4]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t | k g | |
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
| Rhotic | r | |||
| Lateral | l | |||
| Fricative | s | |||
| Approximant | w | j |
/b, r/ can be realized as [β, d] as intervocalic allophones. /r/ is pronounced as [d] when following a nasal consonant.
Kol displays vowel length contrast.
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Low | æː | ɑ ɑː | ɒ ɒː |
The following basic vocabulary words are from SIL field notes (1962, 1981), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[5]
| gloss | Kol |
|---|---|
| head | ˈkel.a; kela keřne |
| hair | ˈkomɒ; komɔʔ kalɛane |
| ear | ˈbula; bula kɛřlɛ |
| eye | pelnɛl; ˈpenel |
| nose | taˈli:; tali keřne |
| tooth | ˈmire; mi̠řɛ kɛřnɛ |
| tongue | dal kɛřnɛ; raal |
| leg | pe:re |
| louse | ˈtare; ta̠řɛ |
| dog | kuˈɒ:; kwa |
| pig | bu |
| bird | ˈule; ulɛ |
| egg | ˈkondola; kondo̠la |
| blood | ˈbe:la |
| bone | ˈti:le |
| skin | tomalu gomo; toˈmolu |
| breast | ˈtombo; to̠to la̠nɛ |
| tree | ˈti:nel; ti̠nɛl |
| man | mo; tɒ: ˈti:niŋ |
| woman | daiƀɛ; ra:l |
| sun | ˈkarege; kařɛ̠qɛ |
| moon | ˈigu; i̠qu |
| water | ˈgonu; qu̠nu |
| fire | kuˈoŋ; kuɔŋ |
| stone | ˈlela; lɛla |
| road, path | kɛrɛa; ˈkeria |
| name | ˈole |
| eat | mo raŋ kal oŋ; tam·a |
| one | ˈpusuɒ; titus |
| two | tɛřɛŋ; teˈtepe |
Papuan language families (Palmer 2018 classification) | |||||||||||
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| Trans-New Guinea subgroups |
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| Eastern Nusantara families and isolates |
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| Bird's Head Peninsula families and isolates |
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| Northern Western New Guinea families and isolates | |||||||||||
| Central Western New Guinea families and isolates |
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| Sepik-Ramu basin families and isolates |
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| Gulf of Papua and southern New Guinea families and isolates | |||||||||||
| Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands families and isolates | |||||||||||
| Rossel Island isolate |
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| Proposed groupings |
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| Proto-language |
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Primary language families | |||||
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| Africa |
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| Eurasia (Europe and Asia) |
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| New Guinea and the Pacific |
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| Australia |
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| North America |
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| Mesoamerica |
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| South America |
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| Sign languages |
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| See also |
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Languages of Papua New Guinea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Official languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Major Indigenous languages |
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| Other Papuan languages |
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| Sign languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||