Kuanua Alphabet

Alphabet

Originally the Kuanua language did not have a set of letters used in writing because it was an oral language. The introduction of writing has helped to identify the letters employed in the oral kuanua to establish an alphabet. The alphabet varies in certain dialects. For example, Boawa Village (LungaLunga) has the h and s in its dialect whereas Kabakada, only about three kilometers away, does not employ h and s. Boawa people speak the Masawa dialect of Kuanua. Generally, the kuanua alphabet is a, b, d, e, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, w. It is not hard to pronounce Kuanua words because the language is mostly phonetic…. The -A also is used frequently as a prefix before all nouns. The sound ng is pronounced as in the suffix ing , in English, added to a term to indicate present continuous tense.  Examples are: mangoro – many; mangula – busy; and mang – bandicoot. The letter I is pronounced as in the English letter E. The letter E is pronounced e as in get, bed, and leg.

Photo credit: Esau Mellie.
Harbour of Rabaul taken from the side of Kokopo..The Raluana dialect of Kuanua is spoken in Kokopo..

Kuanua Prefixes and Suffixes

Prefixes and Suffixes

Prefixes

a usually comes before a noun. bar denotes  nuclear and extended family relationship terms. wa is used to signify the noun form of a verb. It is also used to indicate active verb. eg. libur changed to walibur.

Suffixes

Suffixes denoting possessive nouns

gu denotes my;  i, na, denotes of;  m,  am, im denotes your. For example:  Agu tawa. My water. Kaugu mal. My clothes.

In Kuanua there are two categories of possessive nouns: 1. food; 2; non-food. In English the word my is used to refer to both food and non-food items, for example, my house, my orange. It is not so in Kuanua because agu refers to food and kaugu refers to non-food items.

Suffixes as Pronouns

ia . The suffix ia changes a verb to an adverb. e.g., watur ,waturia; ;(touch, touch it) bing, bingia (press, press it). e. In some cases the suffix e can be used instead of ia but not in all cases. e.g., watur, wature. ia and e are at the same time serve as pronouns.

Photo Credit: Grace Tiden

The photo shows the conclusion of the final stage of initiation in Tolai tubuan. This stage is called dok. The prefix ni is added to dok and forms the noun nidok.