Musom is an Austronesian language spoken in the single village of Musom (6°41′01″S147°06′52″E / 6.683574°S 147.11452°E / -6.683574; 147.11452 (Musom)) in Labuta Rural LLG, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.[2] The other name for Musom is Misatik, given by the older generations because this was the name of the village that the ancestors settled on.[3] Musom is currently an endangered language because native Musom speakers are continuing to marry other language speakers.[3] Musom is also endangered because of its change in grammar and vocabulary due to its bi- and multilingualism.[3] In the Musom village, other languages that Musom speakers may speak are Aribwuang and Duwet.[3] In the Gwabadik village, because of intermarriages other languages that Musom speakers may speak are Nabak and Mesem.[3]
In Musom, voiceless, voiced and prenasalised voice are the only series of stops when it comes to consonants.[3] For Musom consonants, if there is a prenasalised voice stop, the vowel is then seen after it and is can be as nasal only.[3] Allophones are contained in the prenasalised voiced affricated alveolar stop /ndz/ which occurs initially, medially, and then [nts] occurs finally.[3]
For the consonants, /w, kw, gw/ they do not occur initially, medially and finally, but all other consonants do.[3] Other consonants that do not occur finally are /d, g, ndz/.[3] When the word ends in with a consonant and the next word also begins with a consonant, a prothetic a is put in between the words.[3] For the consonant /r/, it contains two allophones [r] and [l], but only in free variation.[3]
When Musom is compared to Yabim, there are claims that infer that Musom may have a 7-vowel system.[3]
Syllable Structure
Musom language has a syllable structure of (C) V (C) (V) (C).[3]
Morphophonemics
In Musom language, if a speaker were to talk fast, /u/ could be heard as [i].[3] Some examples that could be heard are:[3]
num > [nim] drink
wutsin . [witsin] inside
If a subject pronoun prefix that contains a vowel, comes before the root that is within a vowel (verb root), the verb root changes according to what came before it.[3] Some examples are:[3]
mbidi stand up a-mbidi 1st person subject > u-mbudi 2nd person subject
i-mbidi 3rd person subject
mbitsi cook on fire
a-mbitsi 1st person subject > u-mbutsi 2nd person subject
i-imbitsi 3rd person subject
Words that contain multiple syllables, those syllables could be dropped or centralized.[3] A vowel turns into schwa [ə] in the unstressed syllable.[3] Here is an example:[3]
'apun completive particle > ['apm] ~ ['apəm]
Pronouns
Focal pronouns are able to be used as subjects and objects of verbs.[3] Prepositions only occur with objects of verbs.[3] Focal pronouns are also found in a possessive phrase.[3] For 1st singular, short form only occurs when wir is switched for u or ur.[3]
Interrogative pronouns can be seen with who and what.[3] In Musom, who and what can be used with two different pronouns.[3] Those two different pronouns are:[3]
The first type of possession in Musom has inalienable nouns.[3] Some examples of these inalienable nouns are kin terms, body parts, name, namesake, friend or trade partner.[3]
Possession of Set 1 Inalienable Kinship Terms and Body Parts[3]
SG
DU
PL
1EXC
wir/ur a + N-ng(g)
sikin a + N-ng (g)
tse + N-ng(g)
1INC
suk a + N-ng(g)
tsir a + N-ng(g)
2
ingg a + N-m
som sikin a + N-m
tsom a + N-m
3
in a + N-n
isikin a + N-n
is a + N-m
The second type of possession in Musom is Alienable possession.[3] The second type of possession holds all the nouns that are not in the first type.[3] The possessive phrase can contain noun or pronoun possession, and prothetic a.[3] Then there is a noun that is not attributed to the possessive markers which is the noun possessed.[3] Here are some examples:[3]
wir a om my house
ingg a mimin your betelnut
in a tahung his smoke
is a kom/kom a is en their dog
Sentence Structure
Coordination
In the Musom language, sentences can be formed by using conjunctions such as da 'and, but' and ma 'or'.[3] One example using da is:[3]
Tse g-a-k g-a-bitsi ung da g-a-hur
weEXC P-SPP1-go P-SPP1-cook breadfruit and P-SPP1-fish
We cooked breadfruit and fished (for crayfish) in the river.
Wurm, S.A. editor. Some Endangered Languages of Papua New Guinea: Kaki Ae, Musom, and Aribwatsa. D-89, vi + 183 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1997.
