Kwomtari | Ethnologue

A language of Papua New Guinea

ISO 639: kwo
Alternate Names: Kefe, Kisofe, Klefe
Autonym: Glefe
Population: 800 (Honsberger and Tupper 2008).
Location:: Sandaun province: Amanab district, north of Namia. 6 villages.
Language Status: 6a (Vigorous).
Classification: Kwomtari, Nuclear Kwomtari
Dialects: Western Kwomtari, Central Kwomtari, Eastern Kwomtari. Full mutual intelligibility among dialects. Lexical similarity: 94% or higher between all dialects.
Typology: SOV; Postpositions; Noun Head: Initial; Ergative-Absolutive; Agglutinating morphological system; Verbal affixation marks direction, accompaniment, distributive, motion, object, aspect, and subject; Aspects: 3 (Durative, Habitual, Repetitive); Consonants: 11, Vowels: 8.
Language Use: All domains except in church, where there is mixed use with Tok Pisin [tpi], and in interactions with outsiders. Used by all. Positive attitudes. Most also use Tok Pisin [tpi] (Honsberger and Tupper 2008).
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: Low. Two community schools. Grammar. Bible portions: 2009.
Language Resources: OLAC resources in and about Kwomtari
Writing: Latin script [Latn].
Other Comments: Traditional religion, Christian.

Location: Sandaun province: Amanab district, north of Namia. 6 villages.