// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Rapoisi language say? It's poetic license.

Konua
Rapoisi
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Bougainville
Native speakers	(3,500 cited 1998)
Language family	North Bougainville Konua
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kyx
Glottolog	rapo1238

Konua, also known as Rapoisi, is a language spoken on Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

Place Manner	Bilabial	Dento-Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Stop	p	t̪	k	ʔ
Fricative	β	s	ɣ	h
Tap		ɾ

• /p/ is often pronounced as [ɸ] word initially
• /t̪/ does not occur before /i/
• /β ɾ ɣ/ have the allophones [b d~l g] respectively. The nasal allophones [m n ŋ] occur utterance-initial.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	e	o
Low	ɑ

Orthography

Rapoisi is written in the Latin alphabet, with 14 letters.

Letters	Uppercase	A	B	E	G	H	I	K	O	P	R	S	T	U	’
	Lowercase	a	b	e	g	h	i	k	o	p	r	s	t	u
IPA		ɑ	β	e	ɣ	h	i	k	o	p	ɾ	s	t̪	u	ʔ

Grammar

Pronouns

			A	S	O	Poss.
1st Person	Excl.	Singular	aga, aru			-ai
		Dual	ioka			-abi
		Plural	ioka			-abi
	Incl.	Dual	peka			-abi
		Plural	bioga			-abi
2nd Person	Singular		bira, biru			-ari
	Dual		mega			-abisi
	Plural		itarea			-abisi
3rd Person	Singular	Gender 1	ita			-ara
		Gender 2	ia			-ʔo
	Dual		siga			-ara
	Plural		pirio			-ara

Vocabulary

The table below is a sample of words in Rapoisi:

Word	Meaning
aga, aru	I
bira	you
bioga, biru	we
arei	one
bo suku	two
atari	fish
kesu	dog
utuo	louse
evaita	tree
hara	leaf
kaparue	skin
parakoa	blood
reu	bone
reruo	horn
ubateo	ear
otei	eye
birao, iruba	nose
asi	tooth
ubiubi	knee
akapio	hand
aterariba	liver
era	drink
keke	see
ubara	hear
pi	die
luilui	come
isiro	sun
bapi, uo	water
aipo	stone
uhi	fire
ohopa	path
hukihuki	mountain
bogi	night
ueibara	new
ute	name

Further reading

• Müller, Adam. 1954. Grammatical notes on the Konua language. Posieux: Inst.