Possesive Nouns in Kuanua

Edited 12/9/2017 Ismael K. Isikel

Unlike the English possessive nouns, Kuanua has two sets of possessive nouns. One set is used for food items and another set is used for non-food items. In this post plural possessive nouns are indicated with plr and singular are indicated with s. var is used to indicate variation in word which is influenced by dialect. In everyday conversations plural possessive nouns are indicated clearly from two to three persons and more than three persons are referred to as plural in general. Note also that the letter a in the beginning of each word indicates possessive noun of food item. The letter k in the beginning of each word indicates possessive noun of non-food item. Below is a list of possessive nouns of Food Items and Non-Food Items with examples. 

Food Items

adat plr For us. More than three persons
Tubugu ipare ra pa adat. My granny roasted taro for us.

adatal plr For us. For the three of us.
Nam ra en adatal, That fish is ours/for the three of us.

adital plr For the three of them.
Nam ra en adital. That fish is theirs/for the three of them

adir plr For them. For the two of them. var aduru
Iau warwe u ba adir nam ra tup. I told you the sugarcane is theirs/for the two of them.

ador plr For us. For the two of us.
Ador kulau. Ador is used when the owners (two persons) of an item are speaking amongst themselves. 

adiat plr For them. More than three persons

Nam ra en adiat. That fish is theirs.

agu  s Mine

Nam ra en agu. That fish is mine.

am s Yours  var. amu
Nam ra en am. That fish is yours.

amamir  plr For the two of us.
Amamir igir. Amamir is used when speaking to others about an item belonging to self and another.

amamur plr For the two of you
Amamur igir

amamital plr For the three of us
Amamital nian.

amamutal plr For the three of you. var. mutalu
Amamutal ku.

amavet plr  For us. var avevet  More than three persons
Amavet kakika. Only for us.

Non-food Items

kaugu s Mine; For me.
Kaugu robong.

kaum s For you. var. karum, karumu, karimu
Kaum robong.

kamamir plr For the two of us. Used when speaking to others about our possession. 
Kamamir uma.

kamamur plr For you. For the two of you.var. karimui
Kamamur tiniba.

kamavet  plr    For us. More than three persons. var.kawavet, kavevet
Kamavet nam ra pal. That house is ours'

kamamital plr For us. For the three of us.
Kamamital kakika. For the three of us only,

kamamutal plr For you. For the three of you. var. karimui
Nam ra boroi kamamutal. That pig is for the three of you.

kamavat plr For you.
Nam ra papkana pia kamavat. That piece of land is yours.

kana s His,hers/its. var. kaina, karina
Kana uma iwawailik. His/Her garden is far away.

kadir plr Theirs. For the two of them.var. karidi
Kadir uma. Their garden.

kador plr  For the two of us.  Used when speaking to ourselves about our possession.
Kador pal. Our house.

kadiat plr For them. More than three people. Used when speaking of other people's possession
Kadiat nam rapal. That house is theirs.

kadatal plr For the three of us. Used when speaking of our possession
Kadatal nam ra pal. That house is ours.

kadital plr For the three of them. Used when speaking of other people's possession

Kadital nam ra kakailai. That song is theirs.

A Kapono

kapeo  

The word kapeo means single, one, or solo. Example usage: A bul kapeo. An only child.There is a variation to the word and that is kapono.It means only one. Another meaning of kapono is old person, usually old male. Example usage: Ra kapono. The old man. An old female is tubuan. A tubuan. An old woman.

The word kapeo is used by many as name for both males and females. For the female it is Ia Kapeo and for the male it is To Kapeo.

This fellow standing with his bicycle is To Kapeo. He was named after his great grandfather Ruruaur To Kapeo who was one of the last "blackbirds" at Mackay sugarcane farm, Queensland.