Porome language


Porome, also known as Kibiri, is a Papuan language of southern Papua New Guinea.

Classification

Porome was classified as a language isolate by Stephen Wurm. Although Malcolm [Ross (linguist)|Malcolm Ross] linked it to the Kiwaian languages, there is no evidence for a connection apart from the pronouns 1sg amo and 2sg do.

Distribution

There are over a thousand speakers in Babaguina, Doibo, Ero, Paile, Tipeowo, and Wowa villages in West Kikori Rural LLG and East Kikori Rural LLG of Gulf Province, near the Aird Hills and Kikori River tributaries.

Phonology

Porome has 9 native consonants. /s/ occurs in loanwords. There are no glottal consonants.
There are five vowels, which are /a, e, i, o, u/.
Like the surrounding languages, Porome is a tonal language. It has 5 tones.
  • High-level: kóí ‘cloth’
  • Low-level: kòì ‘selfish’
  • Rising: mèrí ‘road’
  • Falling: mérì ‘pandanus’
  • Peaking: pàkúmì ‘feather’

    Pronouns

The independent pronouns and subject suffixes to the verb are as follows:

Vocabulary

Selected Porome vocabulary from Petterson :

Body parts

Numerals

Village and society

Nature and environment

Plants

Animals

Comparison

Lexical comparison of Porome with neighboring languages:
Comparison of Porome's phonological inventory with those of neighboring languages: