Binumarien (Afaqinna ufa)

Binumarien is a member of the Kainantu-Goroka group of Trans-New Guinea language family. It is spoken by about 1,200 people in Binumarien in the Kainantu District in the northeast of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Binumarien is spoken by people of all ages in homes, community gatherings and church services.

Binumarien is called Afaqinna ufa by the people who speak it, and they call the area where they live Afaqinnaasa. The name Binumarien comes from Pinumareena, the name of a former Binumarien village.

A way to write Binumarien with the Latin script was devised by Desmond and Jenny Oatridge, SIL members who lived in the Binumarien community from 1959 to 1986. They also translated the New Testament of the Bible into Binumarien.

Binumarien alphabet and pronunciation

Binumarien alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

Binumarien has two tones: a high tone and a low tone. However, they are not usually indicated in writing.

Download an Binumarien alphabet chart (Excel)

Sample text

Quapunara qirara. Quapuna asooqa ufini maridanoo. Sia kumaara fasiqa anaasee neemariafa. Mifa nanauraki faiqaidanoo. Faasaana eendaki aana nidanoo ... mina oori qusa afu firaafa ... asausi aadara arirafa maridanoo. Doo miufana taikeenoo.

Translation

I am going to talk about the quapuna owl. The quapuna is a bird or the elder. Young men and women do not eat it. It sleeps in the nanaura tree. Day and night, it goes around ... its beak is short its eyes are big, ... and its feathers are coloured brown. Okay, this talk is finished.

From Ufiniuqa akara (Book of Birds) by Adoo, a speaker of Binumarien, edited by Des and Jenny Oatridge and published in 1973. Source: Topics in the Grammar of Binumarien. Renger van Dasselaar. 2019.

Sample video

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Information about Binumarien | Numbers | Tower of Babel

Links

Information about Binumarien
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binumarien_language
https://www.pngattitude.com/2011/02/ethnology-the-story-of-the-binumarien.html
https://docslib.org/doc/1695443/topics-in-the-grammar-of-binumarien-tone-and-switch-reference-in-a-kainantu-language-of-papua-new-guinea
https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Binumarien.htm
https://wycliffe.org.au/projects/binumarien-ot-translation/
http://www.language-archives.org/language/bjr
https://www.sil.org/resources/search/language/bjr

Trans-New Guinea languages

Amele, Awara, Barai, Beami, Bimin, Binumarien, Blagar, Borong, Burum, Dadibi, Daga, Huli, Kanasi, Ketengban, Meriam Mir, Nobonob, Sawila, Tairoa, Teiwa, Wantoat

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 05.08.24. Last modified: 05.08.24

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