Labu language
Labu is an Austronesian language of Papua New Guinea.
Locations
Labu is spoken by 1,600 people in three older villages and one new one across the Markham River from Lae in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The three older villages are Labubutu , Labumeti , and Labutali in Wampar Rural LLG.Contact
Although it belongs to the Lower Markham languages, Labu appears to have been strongly influenced by the coastal languages of the Huon Gulf, Bukawa in particular. For instance, Labu shows tonal contrasts, like Bukawa but unlike any of the Markham languages; and Labu numerals show separate forms for '3', '4', and '5', like Bukawa, even though salu '2', sidi '3', and sôha '4' contain the Lower Markham numeral classifier *sV-.Phonology
Labu distinguishes 7 vowels and 17 consonants. The vowels also exhibit contrasts between high and low pitch, just as in Yabêm, the Lutheran mission lingua franca for the coastal languages of Morobe Province during much of the 20th century. The orthography of Labu is based on that of Yabêm, except that y replaces Yabêm j.Vowels (orthographic)
Consonants (orthographic)
Tone contrasts
The vowels of some words in Labu are distinguished by lowered pitch, which is marked orthographically by a grave accent. Labu distinctions in tone are thus based on register tone, not contour tone as in Mandarin Chinese. Register tone contrasts are a relatively recent innovation of the North Huon Gulf languages, which many Labu speakers include in their linguistic repertoires, so one should not look back to voice contrasts in Proto-Oceanic or some other ancestral language to explain the origins of tone contrasts in Labu. Instead, one should look to areal influences, primarily from neighboring Bukawa.| High | Low |
| a 'sun' | à 'tree, wood' |
| ani 'centipede' | ànì 'one' |
| maya 'shame' | mayà 'dead' |
| ôpa 'crocodile' | ôpà 'thouGght' |
| ô 'breadfruit' | ồ 'garden' |
| u 'rain' | ù 'clay pot' |
Morpho">Morphology (linguistics)">Morpho-syntax">Syntax (linguistics)">syntax
Pronouns and person markers
Free pronouns
Possession">Possession (linguistics)">Possession
In Labu, there are two types of possessive noun phrases: the genitive and the nominal.Genitive possession
The genitive possessive noun phrase conforms to the following structure:PNP → NP1 POS NP2
If the possessor has already been established earlier in the discourse and it is clear to both the speaker and listener, then the NP1 can be omitted from the possessive phrase. If the omitted NP1 is an inanimate object then the possessive marker êna is used.
Some examples of the genitive possessive noun phrase are as follows:
ai yu-dumala kô yê na ana
I 1S.PT-look at you 2S.POS mother
I saw your mother.
amêna ŋatô salu le sê hanô nda mêna
man old two this 3P.POS house stay village
These two old men's house was in the village.
êmôha mô-kôna êna taiya mê-nda nôsôlô
we.XD 1X-look.at POS tyre 1P-stay rubbish
We looked at its tyre in the rubbish dump.
Nominal possession
| Nominal possessive markers | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person inclusive | lêêna | |
| 1st person exclusive | ndêêna | mêêna |
| 2nd person | nôôna | môôna |
| 3rd person | nêêna | sêêna |
The nominal possessive phrase conforms to the following structure:
PNP → NP1 POSN
When the thing being possessed is not explicitly stated within the phrase then the nominal possessive phrase is used. If the possessor has already been established earlier in the discourse then the NP1 can be omitted from a possessive phrase.
Some examples of the nominal possessive phrase are as follows:
ini gwê yê nôôna
he take you 2S.POSN
He took yours.
tawala lene hanô lênê nêêna
door this house that 3S.POSN
This door is that house's.
ai ya-gwê ndêêna
I 1S.PT-take 1S.POSN
I took mine.
Deictics
Labu deictics correlate with first, second, and third person, the first two of which have long and short forms. The third person singular free pronoun can also take deictic suffixes: ini-ne 'this/these one', ini-lê 'that/those one'. Deictics may occur either in place of nouns or postposed to nouns, as in hanô lene 'that house'.- le 'near speaker'
- lê 'near addressee'
- laê 'away from speaker or addressee'
Numerals
| Numeral | Term | Gloss |
| 1 | tôgwatô/ànì | 'one' |
| 2 | salu | 'two' |
| 3 | sidi | 'three' |
| 4 | sôha | 'four' |
| 5 | ma-ipi | 'hands-half/part' |
| 6 | ma-ipi anêndi tôgwatô | 'hands-half offspring/addition one' |
| 7 | ma-ipi anêndi salu | 'hands-half offspring/addition two' |
| 8 | ma-ipi anêndi sidi | 'hands-half offspring/addition three' |
| 9 | ma-ipi anêndi sôha | 'hands-half offspring/addition four' |
| 10 | nômusu | 'ten' |
| 20 | asamô-ni | 'whole-one' |
| 60 | asamô sidi | 'whole three' |
Names
Like most of the coastal languages around the Huon Gulf, Labu has a system of birth-order names.| Birth order | Sons | Daughters |
| 1 | aso | amê |
| 2 | amoa | hiya |
| 3 | aŋgi | aya |
| 4 | aŋgu | êta |
| 5 | ôlôndi | hênamu |
| 6 | ? | asô`lô`/amênamu |
| 7 | asô`lô` | asôlô |
| 8 | asôlô | ? |
| 9 | paloa | ? |
Negation">Negation (linguistics)">Negation
In order to express negation within simple sentences in Labu, either a dubitative or a potential modal must be used in order to begin the predicate, with the negative marker -ki used to end the sentence.Labu has three different forms of this negative marker, which are:
- naki
- ŋaki
- ki
The three forms of the negative marker, depending on the prefixes attached, are used in varying circumstances, dependent on the tense and mood of the utterance.