a dictionary of komnzo komnzo - english christian döhler, anu, canberra Friday 8th July, 2016 This is a working document. Please do not quote without permission. For comments please contact the author under:
[email protected] 1 Preface This dictionary should be regarded as work in progress. Data collection was a collaborative effort carried out during several fieldtrips between 2010 and 2015. I would like to thank the people of Rouku village for welcoming me and teaching their language to me. On the day of my arrival in 2010 I had promised to produce a dictionary. In order to guide and supervise my work, the Rouku Language Council was set up including the following members: Kaumb, Daure, Railey, Marua, Se- moi, Kales, Anau, Turaki, Caspar, Mokai, Wermang, Abraham, Albert, Maembu, Steven and Mai. I would like to express special thanks to Nakre Abia, Abia Bai, Daure Kaumb and Riley Abia for the many hours during which they sat down with me and did not become tired of my questions. I would also like to thank two scholars who have visited to Rouku and thereby contributed specialised knowledge to this dictionary. Kipiro Damas helped in gathering botanical knowledge and Chris Healey in the collection of bird names. 2 The phoneme inventory and graphemes Table 1 Consonant phoneme inventory bilabial dental alveolar palato-alveolar palatal velar labio-velar stop & affricate ”t∼t <t> ts <z> k <k> kw <kw> prenasalised stop & mb <b> nd <d> ndz <nz> Ng <g> Ngw <gw> affricate fricative F <f> D <th> s <s> nasal m <m> n <n> N <N> lateral r∼R <r> semivowel j <y> w <w> Table 2 Vowel phonemes front central back unrounded rounded high i ü u mid e ö (é)a o mid-low ä low a a The short central schwa is the epenthetic vowel.