Tifal language
| Tifal | |
|---|---|
| Tifalmin | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Sandaun Province, Telefomin District |
|
Native speakers
|
3,600 (2003) |
|
Trans–New Guinea
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | tifa1245 |
Tifal is an Ok language spoken in Papua New Guinea.
The Tifal language is bounded by Papuan and Irian Jaya speakers to the south and west, the Telefomin valley in the east, and the Sepik river to the north.
/o/ and /oː/ rarely contrast.
Syllable structure is (C)V(ː)(C). The expression kwiin takan 'oh my!' may be an exception.
/d/ only occurs word-initially./f/ only occurs syllable-initially./ŋ/ is always syllable-final.
Initial /l/ only occurs in some dialects. Initial /kw/ occurs in two dialects, and may usually be interpreted as C+V.
/w/ and /j/ occur syllable-initially. Only one dialect allows syllable-coda /j/.
In inflected words stress lies on the last syllable of the verb stem. Otherwise, if there are long vowels stress falls on the first in the word. If all vowels are short, stress falls on the last syllable if it is closed and the first syllable otherwise.
Nouns are not inflected but may mark possession. Body parts and kinship terms are obligatorily possessed, and some kinship terms require affixing. On other nouns possession is optional, except for proper names which are never possessed.
Tifal has a rich aspectual system. Verbs may be separated into four groups based on how they transform from continuative to punctiliar aspect. Some only have vowel and/or simple stem changes, some have suppletive stems, some change compound-final stems, and some which have allomorphs which add -(a)laa-min (or rarely -daa-laa-min) to the stem.
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