Ambai language


The Ambai language is an Austronesian language spoken in Indonesian New Guinea, 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, and Manawi.

Phonology

Ambai has 19 consonants and 6 vowels, shown on the tables below.
BilabialLabiodentalAlveolarPalatalVelarPharyngealGlottal
Stop
Nasal
Trill
Fricative
Approximant

Morphology

Pronouns

All pronouns in Ambai mark for number, person and clusivity.
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' 3rd person pronoun.


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.


Examples of pronouns used in everyday language: