Ambai language

Ambai
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Ambai Islands
Ethnicity	Ambai
Native speakers	(10,100 cited 2000)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian Eastern Malayo-Polynesian South Halmahera–West New Guinea Cenderawasih Bay Yapen Central–Western Ambai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	amk
Glottolog	amba1265

The Ambai or Ampari is an Austronesian language spoken by the Ambai people in Indonesian New Guinea (Papua Province), mostly on the Ambai Islands, as well as the southern part of Yapen Island. The number of speakers is estimated to be 10,000. Dialects are Randawaya, Ambai (Wadapi-Laut), and Manawi.

Phonology

Ambai has 19 consonants and 6 vowels, shown on the tables below.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Laryngeal
Plosive	p  b	t  d		k  ɡ
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Trill		r
Fricative	ɸ	s	ç  ʝ		ħ/h
Approximant	w		j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Open		a

Morphology

Pronouns

All pronouns in Ambai mark for number, person and clusivity (in first person).

The following bound pronouns are obligatorily added as affixes to the verb to stand as the subject of the sentence. Every verb in Ambai takes a subject, even if it is a 'dummy' third-person pronoun.

Bound Pronouns

		Singular	Dual	Trial	Plural
1st person	exclusive	i-/dj-	au(r)-	anto(r)-	ame(r)-
	inclusive		tu(r)-	to(r)-	ta(r)-
2nd person		b-	mu(r)-	munto(r)-	me(r)-
3rd person		d-	u(r)-	co(r)-	e(r)-

The following pronouns are independent and are more restricted in use. They do not appear as subjects – since the subject is marked already on the verb – but can appear as objects, in prepositional phrases and in subordinate clauses. Some verbs allow the object pronoun to be omitted.

Free Pronouns

		Singular	Dual	Trial	Plural
1st person	exclusive	jau	auru	antoru	amea
	inclusive		turu	totoro	tata
2nd person		wau	muru	muntoro	mea
3rd person		i	uru	coru	ea

Examples of pronouns used in everyday language:

(1)

b-oti

2SG-see

suru

3DU.OBJ

b-oti suru

2SG-see 3DU.OBJ

'Look at them (two).'

(2)

uru

3DU

u-minohi

3DU-sit

uru u-minohi

3DU 3DU-sit

'They sit.'

Further reading

• P.J. Silzer Ambai, an Austronesian Language of Irian Jaya, Indonesia, Ph.D. Australian National University, 1983.

External links

• The Ambai Language Documentation Page
• A Short Description of Ambai Grammar, by Ariel Gutman
• A Grammar Sketch of Ambai, by Fannie St-Pierre-Tanguay