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Telefol is a language spoken by the Telefol people in Papua New Guinea, notable for possessing a base-27 numeral system.

Telefol
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Sandaun Province, Telefomin District.
Ethnicity	Telefol people
Native speakers	(5,400 cited 1994)[1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Central & South New Guinea ? Ok Mountain Telefol
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tlf
Glottolog	tele1256
ELP	Telefol
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History

The Iligimin people also spoke Telefol, but they were defeated by the Telefol proper.[2]

Orthography

Telefol alphabet[3]

Phonemic	ɑ	ɑɑ	e	ee	i	ii	o	oo	u	uu	b	d̪	ɸ	k	kʷ	l	m	n̪	ŋ	s̪	t̪	w	j
Lowercase	a	aa	e	e	i	ii	o	o	u	uu	b, p	d, g	f	k, g	kw	l	m	n	ng	s	t	w	y
Uppercase	A	Aa	E		I	Ii	O		U	Uu	B	D	F	K	Kw		M	N		S	T	W	Y

Single ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ represent both their single and long vowels, since they rarely contrast.

/b/ is written ⟨p⟩ pre-consonantally and word-finally.

Single /k/ is written ⟨g⟩ intervocalically, and /kk/ is written ⟨k⟩ intervocalically.

/kd/ and /ŋd/ are written ⟨kg⟩ and ⟨ngg⟩ (since they're pronounced [ɡ] and [ŋɡ] respectively).

Initial /ɡ/ is also written with ⟨g⟩ in loan words, e.g. Got 'God'.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants[3]

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	(Glottal)
Nasal	m	n̪			ŋ
Plosive	(p) b	t̪ d̪			k kʷ (ɡ)	(ʔ)
Fricative	f	s̪				(h)
Lateral			l
Semivowel	w			j

/ʔ/ and /h/ only appear in a few particles and some exclamations. /p/ and /ɡ/ only appear in a few loans.

Allophones[4][5]

Phoneme(s)	Condition	Allophone
/b/	intervocalic	[b~β]
	syllable-final	[pʰ]
/f/	free-variation	[f~ɸ]
/k/	intervocalic	[ɣ]
/l/	intervocalic	[ɾ]
/kd/	(everywhere)	[ɡ]
/ŋd/	(everywhere)	[ŋɡ]

Vowels

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Open		ɑ ɑː

There are two contrastive phonemic tones in Telefol, high and low. For example, ùlín 'club' vs. úlìn 'planted'.

/e/ and /eː/, /o/ and /oː/, are nearly in complementary distribution. Also, single /e/ and /o/ don't occur in one-syllable words or in terminal syllables.

Vowel length only contrasts in initial syllables. However, in initial syllables single /u/ and /o/, and /i/ and /e/, don't contrast.

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is (C)V(ː)(C).

/l/ does not occur word-initially.

/ŋ/ is allowed in medial, but not word-initial, onsets.[6]

Grammar

Telefol is a subject–object–verb language.

Verbal aspect

Telefol has a rich aspectual system.[7] Telefol verbs have "punctiliar" (momentary/completed) and "continuative" stems.[8]

Counting system

Telefol uses a base-27 counting system. This is mapped onto the body by counting each of the following: the left pinky to the left thumb (1-5); the wrist, lower arm, elbow, upper arm, and shoulder (6-10); the side of the neck, ear, and left eye (11-13); the nose (14); and similarly on the right side in reverse order, from the right eye to the right pinky (15-27).[9][10]

Kinship

Telefol has dyadic kinship terms (terms referring to the relationship two or more people have to each other), which are uncommon in the world's languages and not prevalent in Papua New Guinea. However, they are a salient feature of the Ok languages. Related terms are found in Oksapmin, Mian, and Tifal.[11]

Evolution

Below are some reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea proposed by Pawley (2012):[12]

proto-Trans-New Guinea	Telefol
*m(o,u)k ‘milk, sap, breast’	müük, mɔk ‘spittle’
*maŋgat[a] ‘teeth, mouth’	(Faiwol makat-kalim ‘whiskers’)
*maŋgV ‘compact round object’	magap ‘round object, fruit, seed, etc’’
*m(i,u)ndu ‘nose’	mutu ‘nose’
*k(o,u)ma(n,ŋ)[V] ‘neck, nape’	kum ‘left side of neck’
*kumut, *tumuk ‘thunder’	tumuun ‘thunder’
*niman ‘louse’	tim ‘louse’
*kal(a,i)m ‘moon’	kaliim ‘moon’
*k(i,u)tuma ‘night, morning’	kutim ‘morning’
*na ‘1SG’	na-
*ni, *nu ‘1PL’	nu
*mbena ‘arm’	ban ‘forearm’
*[w]ani ‘who?’	wan(tap), waan(ta) ‘who?’
*pVnum ‘wind’	inim
*kinV ‘shoulder’	tiŋ (Faiwal kiiŋ)
*mbilaŋ ‘tongue’	fɔŋ (cf. Faiwol falaŋ, Tifal filaŋ)
*mbena ‘arm’	ban ‘forearm’
*amba ‘sibling’	baab
*(kambu)-sumbu ‘ashes’	(ku)-tab
*mbilaŋ ‘tongue’	foŋ (Tifal filaŋ)
*(mb,p)ututu- ‘to fly’	(?) fúlúluú (+ V.)
*pVnum ‘wind’	(?) inim
*m(i,u)ndu ‘nose’	mutuum
*kumut, *tumuk ‘thunder’	tumuun
*k(i,u)tuma ‘night, morning’	kutim
*ŋgatu(k,n) ‘knee’	katuun
*k(a,e)(nd,t)ak ‘neck’	ditak (Faiwal getak)
*saŋ ‘story, song’	saŋ ‘myth, story’
*sumbu ‘ashes’	(ku-)tab
*maŋgV ‘compact round object’	(úún) makáb ‘egg’
*maŋgat[a] ‘teeth, mouth’	(Faiwal makat-kalim ‘whiskers (lit. chin-hair)’)
*kal(a,i)m ‘moon’	kaliim
*k(o,u)ma(n,ŋ)[V] ‘neck, nape’	kum ‘left side of neck’
*k(o,u)ndVC ‘bone’	kun
*kutV(mb,p)(a,u)[C] ‘long’	(Kati M. kudub)
*kinV ‘shoulder’	tiŋ-
*m(o,u)k ‘milk, sap, breast’	múúk
*ok[V] ‘water’	óók
*(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu ‘skin, bark’	káál
*kal(a,i)m ‘moon’	*kaliim

See also

• Ok languages

References

Bibliography

• Telefol Organised Phonology Data. [Manuscript] http://www.sil.org/pacific/png/abstract.asp?id=333
• Healey, Alan. 1964. Telefol phonology. Linguistic Circle of Canberra Publications B, 3. Canberra: Australian National University. 53
• Healey, Alan. 1974. "A problem of Telefol verb classification." In Richard Loving (ed.), Studies in languages of the Ok family, 167–75. Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages, 7. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics. * Telefol Organised Phonology Data. [Manuscript] http://www.sil.org/pacific/png/abstract.asp?id=333
• Foley, William A. (1986). The Papuan Languages of New Guinea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28621-2. OCLC 13004531.

External links

• Telefol on globalrecordings.net
• WALS - Telefol
• PNG Language Resources: Telefol information
• Paradisec has a number of collections that include Telefol language materials.

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