Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages Volume 38: Reference Grammar of the Karo/Rawa Language

Norma R. and Donald F. Toland

In the Rawa dialect there are no voiced stops — only aspirated and unaspirated
voiceless stops. Thus the/), /, k letters represent the aspirated voiceless stops and the b,
^,^ letters represent the unaspirated voiceless stops. The /r/ phoneme freely alternates
with /]/ phoneme according to the speaker's discretion.

In the Karo dialect, the b, d, g, represent voiced stops. The Karo people tend to use a
much higher percentage of the /]/ phoneme and the Rawa people use the /r/ phoneme
more.

All the prenasalized stops mb, nd, ng, ngg and the vowel oo' each pattern together as a
single phoneme.

Stress in the Karo/Rawa language is phonemic and therefore non-predictable. The
primary stress always occurs on either the first or second syllable. The secondary
stress occurs two syllables after the primary stress. In the example below, the
primary and secondary stress will be capitalized to show where they occur and the
syllables will be separated by a '.' ,

(1)

ga.NA.ye.RooJe *he is deceiving them'

WE.ngge.Re.ngge.re 'to trip'

There are two basic syllable patterns: vowel (V) and consonant vowel (CV). In the
initial syllable of a word, either V or CV may occur; elsewhere only CV. Two vowels
may not occur contiguously in a word. In the examples below the words are divided
into syllables with the use of a '.' and the functors are separated with a hyphen '-'.

(2)

V CV

U, -te

go. down -prt.3s
*He is going down.'

V CV

a, wa

'father'

CV CV CV CV CV

Ga. na. -ye. roo. -teJI

deceive -them -prt.3s
'He is deceiving them.'

cv

CV

CV

bi.

yo.

mi

'bad'

The sentence ordering of the Karo/Rawa language is S O V (subject object verb).

(3)

subj obj verb

Don si yo-ro maketi-no u-wo.ll

Don string. bag get-ss market-to go.down-pt.3s

*Don got a string bag and went down to the market.'

Sentences tend to be rather lengthy. Verbs carry the principal semantic load of the
clause.

(4) Text 85.1; Clauses 1-3:

Verb Verb
No kuri-mi bodaga-no ko te-wero e-rol si
Is before-int httle-loc work do-des say-ss string.bag

Verb Verb Verb

yo-rol duge yo-rol iopi ko-no u -wo-no-woJI

get-ss/ knife get-ss/ coffee garden-loc go.down-pt-ls-rpt

'Before, when I was litde, I decided I wanted to do some work (so) I got (my)
string bag, my knife, (and) I went down to the coffee garden.'

The verb final of the sentence has tense, person number, or aspect markers. For an
example of the usual tense and person number on verb final, observe the final verb
affixes in the preceding example four.

(5) Final Verb Completive Aspect Affix -yingo:

Ene ma ombu-yingojl
3s not come-compi
*Hedid not come.'

The medial verbs connect the clauses together with same subject marker -n?; or
different subject marker -to-~i - -too-e; or the imperative -ya marker.

Norma R. and Donald F. Toland

(6) Same Subject Medial Verb Marker -ro:

Em sipedi yo-rol toonge-rol ko-no oore-wo.H

3s spade get-ss walk-ss garden-to go.up-pt.3s
'She got her spade, hiked and went up to her garden/

(7) Text 85.1; Clauses 64-66: Different Subject Medial Verb Marker -to --/: (speaker
excluded from the previous clause action):

Ngundtro e-rol ene-ndo duge gum nu-noo-to-nil
same say-ss/ 3s-ag knife another me-give-ds-3s.e/

ngu-nonggo nowoondo-ne mete-mi ingo-yingojl
this-from stomach- 1 s good-very feel-compl

'She said that and gave me another knife and from that my stomach felt good
again.'

(8) Text 85.4; Clauses 33-35: Different Subject Medial Verb Marker -too-e: (speaker
included in the previous clause action):

Nasiyoo-too-we, kokingo ye-to-ni ngu, no-ndo yo-rol
warm.up-ds-ls.i hot put-ds-3s.e when Is-ag get-ss

nombo dabemi-mo ye-yingoJI
ashes by.side-of put-compi

'I warmed it up, and when it became hot, I got it and put it by the side of the
fireplace.'

(9) Medial Verb Imperative Marker -ya:

Yo-ya ombu.ll
get-imp come
'Get it and come.'

When the different subject marker -to -/ (speaker excluded from the previous clause
action marker), ~ -too -e (speaker included in the previous clause action marker) is
used, the person number marker occurs second affix order with either the -/or the -e
marker attached to it according to whether or not the speaker has been included in the
previous clause action. Observe the medial verb different subject marker {-to -/) when
the speaker is excluded from the previous clause action, in example seven. In example
eight, observe the different subject medial verb marker {too-e) when the speaker is
included in the previous clause action.

Reference Grammar of the Karo/Rawa Language

Extended noun phrases are used to introduce new material in a discourse. After that it
will be referred to again with either a shortened form, a generic form, or a pronoun.

Suffix markers on nouns indicate: locative, possession, inclusion, agentivity,
instrument, plurality, definite article, discourse prominence. Up to five suffix orders
on nouns have been observed.

(10) Text 85.15; Clause 46: Nouns displaying the following affixation: -mu
*possession\ -ngga 'definite article singular', -tu ^discourse prominence', and -
woore ^locative':

Asa era-tnarawesa eraya-ga-ku ngu
*Then, 2-close. friends 2-def-prom that

boonge-mu-ngga-ku'woore u-wo-riyowo,ll

landslide-poss-def-prom-on.top.of go.down-pt-2d.rpt

*Then the two very close friends went down on top of the landslide.*

(11) Noun displaying the following affixation: -ya ^accompaniment', -ndo
*agentivity':

Oni-ndo Neyuro-ya mande e-wero.H
man-ag Neyuro-incl words say-des
*The man wants to talk with Neyuro.'

(12) Text 85.1; Clauses 41-43: Noun displaying -ne 'possessive', and -mbo
'instrument':

Bibite-roJ sendo-roj kondipo ke~ne-mbo mera se-we sa-yingo.H

sit-ss, cry-ss all leg-Is. poss-inst ground dig-des go-compl

'I sat down, cried, and dug out all the dirt (in the fireplace) with my foot.*

(13) Noun displaying -dodo 'plurality':

Bare-dodo kuri kopi ko-no u-yingo.U

woman-all already coffee garden-to go.down-compl

'All of the women have already gone down to the coffee garden.'

Pronouns have fewer markers than nouns and only one suffix may be used on
pronouns at a time. The pronominal suffix markers show possession, locatives,
inclusion, agentivity, and emphatic ( ene -su nangge 'he only').

Norma R. and Donald F. Toland

(14) Pronouns displaying -ndo *agentivity' and -no Mocative':

No-ndo ge-no mande e-wero.il
Is-ag 2s-to words say-des
'I want to talk to you/

(15) Pronouns displaying -ya 'inclusive':

No-ndo ge-ya mande e~wero.ll
Is-ag 2s-incl words say-des
*I want to talk with you.'

Note: Examples 14 and 15 show alternative ways of saying the same thing.

(16) Pronouns displaying -ro and -mu ^possessive affixes':

Oone-ro-mu? No-ro-muJI
who-poss-poss? Is-poss-poss
*Whose is this? It's mine.'

(17) Pronouns displaying -so nangge 'emphatic affix':

No-so nangge ngu ko te-wo-no,ll
Is-emp only that work do-pt-ls
'I alone did that work.'

The third person singular pronoun ngu (also used as a demonstrative pronoun *that')
and the demonstrative pronoun nga 'this' are the exceptions to the other pronouns and
the types of suffixes it may have. Even though ngu (third person singular) and nga are
pronouns, they also may function as a noun because all of the noun suffixes may
occur on it. The only pronominal suffix that ngu (3sing.) and nga 'this' do not use is the
emphatic suffix.

Data Papers on Papua New Guinea
Languages Volume 38

Reference Grammar

of the Karo/Rawa

Language

Norma R. and Donald F. Toland

Summer Institute of Linguistics
Ukarumpa via Lae
Papua New Guinea