Bimin Grammar Essentials

Bimin Grammar Essentials
by
Thomas Weber
1997
Table of Contents
BIMIN GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS ________________________________ 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS ________________________________________ 2
1. INTRODUCTION __________________________________________ 5
2. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PHONOLOGY ______________________ 6
2.1. Phonemes ______________________________________________________________6
2.2. Syllables _______________________________________________________________7
3. MORPHOLOGY___________________________________________ 8
3.1. Derivational Morphology _________________________________________________8
3.2. Inflectional Morphology __________________________________________________8
3.2.1. Structure of Verbs _____________________________________________________8
3.2.2. Structure of Pronouns__________________________________________________11
3.2.3. Structure of Demonstratives_____________________________________________14
4. CLITICS ________________________________________________ 17
4.1. Case Markers _________________________________________________________17
4.2. Limiters ______________________________________________________________17
4.3. Focus ________________________________________________________________18
4.4. Other Clitics __________________________________________________________18
5. WORD CLASSES ________________________________________ 19
5.1. Nouns ________________________________________________________________19
5.2. Pronouns _____________________________________________________________21
5.3. Demonstratives ________________________________________________________23
5.4. Modifiers _____________________________________________________________25
5.5. Verbs ________________________________________________________________26
5.5.1. Subject Suffix________________________________________________________27
5.5.2. Accusative Prefix _____________________________________________________28
5.5.3. Benefactor Suffix _____________________________________________________30
5.5.4. Tense ______________________________________________________________31
5.5.4.2. Irregular Verbs __________________________________________________33
5.5.5. Aspect______________________________________________________________34
5.5.5.1. Perfective (PFCT)________________________________________________34
5.5.5.2. Immediate Past Continuous (IPC) ___________________________________35
5.5.5.3. Durative (DUR) _________________________________________________35
5.5.5.4. Iterative ________________________________________________________37
5.5.5.5. Copying _______________________________________________________37
5.5.5.6. Inceptive _______________________________________________________37
5.5.6. Modality ____________________________________________________________38
5.5.6.1. Optative and Tentative ____________________________________________38
5.5.6.2. Imperative ______________________________________________________39
5.6. Adverbs ______________________________________________________________40
5.6.1. Temporal Adverbs ____________________________________________________40
5.7. Conjunctions __________________________________________________________40
5.8. Particles ______________________________________________________________41
Bimin Grammar Essentials Page 2

6. PHRASE STRUCTURE ____________________________________ 47
6.1. Nominal Phrases _______________________________________________________47
6.1.1. Structure ____________________________________________________________47
6.1.1.1. Simple Nominal Phrases___________________________________________47
6.1.1.2. Embedding of Nominal Phrases _____________________________________48
6.1.1.3. Nominal Phrase with Relative Clause or Phrase_________________________49
6.1.1.4. Compound Nominal Phrases _______________________________________50
6.1.2. Accompanying so_____________________________________________________51
6.1.3. Locative kel _________________________________________________________52
6.1.4. Limiter kuw and gam __________________________________________________53
6.1.5. Partitive ke __________________________________________________________53
6.1.6. Likeness tew_________________________________________________________53
6.2. Verbal Phrases ________________________________________________________54
6.2.1. Structure of verbal phrases______________________________________________54
6.2.2. Serialization _________________________________________________________55
6.2.3. Pro-Verbs ___________________________________________________________57
6.3. Peripheral Phrases _____________________________________________________58
6.3.1. Modifier Phrases _____________________________________________________58
6.3.1.1. Simple Modifier Phrase ___________________________________________58
6.3.1.2. Coordinated modifier phrases_______________________________________60
6.3.2. Numeral Phrases______________________________________________________60
6.3.3. Temporal Phrases _____________________________________________________63
7. CLAUSES ______________________________________________ 65
7.1. Verbal Clauses_________________________________________________________65
7.2. Non-Verbal Clauses ____________________________________________________67
7.2.1. Descriptive Clauses ___________________________________________________67
7.2.2. Possessive Clauses ____________________________________________________68
7.2.3. Negative Clauses _____________________________________________________68
7.2.3.1. Simple Negative _________________________________________________68
7.2.3.2. Prohibitive Negative ______________________________________________69
7.3. Relative Clauses _______________________________________________________70
8. SENTENCES ____________________________________________ 71
8.1. Clause Chaining with Switch Reference ____________________________________71
8.2. Minor Sentence Types __________________________________________________72
8.2.1. Reason and Result ____________________________________________________72
8.2.2. Conditional__________________________________________________________73
8.2.3. Contrast ____________________________________________________________74
8.2.4. Direct and Indirect Speech ______________________________________________74
8.2.4.1. Direct Speech ___________________________________________________74
8.2.4.2. Indirect Speech __________________________________________________76
8.2.5. Complementation _____________________________________________________76
9. DISCOURSE OBSERVATIONS _____________________________ 78
9.1. Tail-Head Linkage _____________________________________________________78
9.2. Fronting (of Locative, Object and Temporal Phrases) ________________________78
9.3. Optional Pronoun on Clause Level ________________________________________79
9.4. Focus te_______________________________________________________________80
10. RESIDUE _____________________________________________ 81
10.1. Demonstratives (cf. 4.2.3) ________________________________________________81
10.2. Incomplete Vowel Harmony _____________________________________________81

10.3. Medial Verb Forms in Speech and Complementation_________________________81
11. SAMPLE INTERLINEARIZED TEXT ________________________ 82
12. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS _______________________________ 97
13. BIBLIOGRAPHY _______________________________________ 99

1. Introduction
“Bim Weng”, the Bimin Language is spoken by a population of approximately 2,000
speakers. About half of them are living in the main valley of this language group,
which is situated in the very South-East of the Sandaun Province of Papua New
Guinea. The language itself is also spoken in a slightly different dialect towards the
South, in the Western Province. The speakers of this dialect call it: “Nimtew Weng”
(which means “‘What’ language”). By this they want to distinguish their language
from the closest related language towards the West: Faiwol, which they call
“‘Watew’ Weng”, using the Faiwol word for “what”. “Nimtew Weng” is spoken by
about 600 to 700 speakers. It is grammatically very similar to “Bim Weng”, though
there are a few differences in their lexical inventory.
The rest of the “Bim/Nimtew Weng” speaking population is either scattered
geographically somewhere in between those two main groups, or living at Tabubil, at
the Ok Tedi Mining.
“Bim/Nimtew Weng” (i.e. Bimin) is classified as a language of the Trans New
Guinea Phylum, Central and South New Guinea Stock, Ok Family, Mountain Ok
Sub-Family (Wurm 1982).
This paper was written based on data collected during a period of about five years of
field work in the language group. The principal language helpers were: Pastor Tikil,
Pastor Kaneng, Pastor Bulus, and Saimon.
Unless specifically mentioned, all examples in this paper are written in Bimin
orthography, as analyzed in Organized Phonology Data for the Bimin Language
(Weber 1992a), and its appendum (Weber 1992b).
The linguistic consultant that helped with the write up and with some of the analysis
of this paper is Britten Årsjö. Thank you!!

2. Brief Description of Phonology
2.1.Phonemes
Further discussion in Weber 1992a,b.
< Aa Bb Dd Ee Ff Gg Ii Kk l Mm Nn ng Oo Ss Tt Uu Ww Yy >
/ a b d e f g i k l m n g o s t u w j /
[ a b d e f g i k,X,F l~R m n N o s t u p,w j ]
There are a couple of things worth to note; everything else is pretty straight forward:
1. As very common in PNG languages, [l] and [R] fluctuate freely. There is
maybe a slightly more frequent use of [R] than of [l] with adults.
/l/ <l> [l] ~ [R]
2. The velar nasal is over differentiated, since it is actually only a variation of
the voiced velar plosive. The plosive occurs only in syllable onsets, and the
nasal in syllable offsets. Nevertheless, the Bimin Orthography Committee
decided to write the velar nasal as <ng>, as it is handled in Tok Pisin.
/g/ <g> [g] syllable initially
<ng> [N] never
3. The voiceless bilabial plosive becomes a voiced labio-velar approximant
intervocally. The plosive is a variant of the voiced labio-velar approximant,
occurring only on syllable offsets, whereas the latter occurs only syllable
initially.
/w/ <w> [p] syllable finally
[w] never
4. The variations of <k> tend to occur at the following places: [X] at syllable
onsets, [F] intervocally, and [k] word initially. Nevertheless, there are
differences between speakers of even the same dialect (e.g. “Bim Weng”):
The Kuskis phratry1 speakers seem to use fricatives more often and even the
velar affricate instead of the plain velar stop, than the Bim phratry speakers.
/k/ <k> [k] ~ [X] ~ [F] ~ [kX]
1
The Bimin society is divided up in four phratries: Bim and Kuskis (Bim Weng), Kasan and Kuel
(Nimtew Weng). Each of these phratries is again divided up in various clans. These four phratries
speak slightly different dialects, which differ primarily in some of the vocabulary inventory.

5. All five Bimin vowels are also used in their lengthened (phonemic!)
variation. Since Bimin orthography simply duplicates the short vowel in
order to represent the long one, it is of no further consequence for this
paper.
6. An interesting feature of Bimin phonology is the huge inventory of
diphthongs. Some linguists would rather have those diphthongs interpreted
as labialized and palatalized consonants. For a further discussion on that
issue, see the “Organized Phonological Data” paper for the Bimin
language.
2.2.Syllables
Further discussion in Weber, 1992.
V e 'he' u 'she' i 'they'

VC am 'house' im 'their' ok 'water'
CV be 'he is' ki 'enough' ba 'no'
CVC kok 'spec. wood' nem 'my' gel 'small'
Some examples how to apply the syllable patterns:

CV CV CVC
Example (1) ‘you (PL) are here’
kil- ke- min
CVC CV CVC Example (5)
‘creator’ deng- en
CVC VC
Example (2) ‘variety of rattan’
fi- ki- liw

CV CV CVC Example (6)
'tadpole' gal- fei- ok
CVC CV VC
Example (3) ‘variety of cuscus’
ging- um- a
CVC VC V Example (7)
‘we wash’ a- yet
V CVC
Example (4) ‘variety of arrow’
kabi- liw

3. Morphology
3.1.Derivational Morphology
There is a nominalizing suffix -in that goes on a verb root.
Example (1)
fingan -in
afraid NZ
‘fear’
Example (2)
fukun -in
think NZ
‘thought’
Example (3)
ang -in
speak NZ
‘speech’
3.2.Inflectional Morphology
3.2.1.Structure of Verbs
1. Sentence Final Verbs. The basic verb structure for those verbs consists of the
following elements:
µ ACC.PF + N µ BEN.SF µ ASP + TNS.SF + NOM.SF µ PFCT
Example (1)
u- du -yem -s -iliw
ACC.3SG.f give BEN.PL GP NOM.2/3PL
‘They gave her to them(selves).’
Intransitive verbs (e.g. un-, ‘go’) never take on some of the elements (i.e. the
accusative suffix). Nevertheless, there is a minimal requirement for sentence final
verbs:
+ N + TNS.SF + NOM.SF

Example (2)
un- -∅ -e
go PR 3SG.m
‘He goes.’
Example (3)
un- -oko -liw
go FUT 2/3PL
‘You (PL)/They will go.’
2. Medial verbs occur in non-final clauses. They track same or different subject and
also sequence versus non-sequence time. The combination of these properties
makes for four possible switch references in Bimin:
SEQ.DS: N + TNS + NOM + DS

SEQ.SS: N + SS.SEQ
NSEQ.DS: N + TNS + NSEQ + NOM + DS
NSEQ.SS: N + NSEQ
DS -i
SS.SEQ -(e)ko
NSEQ -om
ad DS: The only possible TNS.SF are the three “general tense suffices” -s (for past
tense), -ok(o) (for future tense), and -∅ (for present tense).
ad SS: The vowel in parenthesis -(e)ko is optional as it drops if a preceding open
syllable is joined with the SS marker. In some cases the -e is also dropped in
preceding closed syllables to indicate a closer connection between the two adjoining
clauses.
ad SEQ versus NSEQ: Sequential construction are the unmarked forms, and do not
take any affix, while the non-sequential forms need to be marked with the suffix -om.
The accusative prefix and benefactor suffix may also occur on medial verb forms
immediately preceding or following the verb root respectively.
For further examples of switch reference in Bimin see later in chapter 9.1 Clause
Chaining with Switch Reference.
Example (4)
du- -um -om, …
give BEN NSEQ.SS
‘While S1 give(s) to her, S1...’

Example (5)
d- -ang- -∅ -om -i,
ACC.3SG.m say/do PR NSEQ DS
‘While S1 say/do to him, S2 …’
Example (6)
tol- -∅ -om -ele i, ...
come PR NSEQ 3SG.m DS
‘While he1 comes, S2...’
Example (7)
tal- -s -om -uluw i, ...
come SF NSEQ 1PL DS
‘While we1 came, S2...’
Example (8)
un- -eko, ...
go SS
‘He1 goes, and he1 ...’
Example (9)
un- -∅ -e -i, …
go PR 3SG.m DS
‘He1 goes, and S2 …’
Example (10)
un- -s -e -i, …
go GP 3SG.m DS
‘He1 went, and S2 …’
Example (11)
un- -oko -luw -i, …
go- FUT 1PL DS
‘We1 will go, and S2 …’

3. Serial Verbs. There are three basic structures for this kind of verbs:
a) + N µ BEN
b) + N + NOM
c) + N + PV
ad a): The serial verb forms, that take just a plain verb root nucleus and a facultative
benefactor affix, usually have a purpose meaning. If the verb stem is reduplicated, it
has the meaning of continuous action.
Example (12)
De -lew unina!
bring BEN.3.SG.m go.2PL.IMPV
‘You (PL) take it to him! (i.e. ‘go in order to give it to him!’)’
ad b): The serial verb forms, that take a subject suffix, carry the meaning of some
kind of a continuous action.
Example (13)
Felfel be un- -e tel- -e.
Swallow DEF.m go 3SG.m come 3SG.m
‘The swallow comes and goes.’
ad c): Constructions with a pro-verb. This category is the most common of the
three serial form constructions. There are two verbs that act as pro-verbs: ke- and
ang-. In their function as pro-verbs, they take all the possible affixation
(depending on their position as medial or final verb), while the nucleus does not
take any affixation. Whether a nucleus in such a construction takes ke- or ang- is
lexically determined. Ke- is more frequently used, but some nuclei go only with
ang-, while some can take either one.
Example (14)
Kunum be fingan ke- -s -e
man DEF.m afraid make GP 3SG.m
‘The man was afraid.’
3.2.2.Structure of Pronouns
Pronouns take suffixes but no prefixes. There are three basic stems for pronouns (top
to bottom, left to right: 1SG, 2SG, 3SG.m, 3SG.f, 1PL, 2PL, 3PL. The general
pronouns also have a dual form, which carries gender: middle row, top to bottom:
1DL, 2DL.m, 2DL.f, 3DL.m, 3DL.f):

General:
ne(-) neso(-) nu(-)
ku(-) kaso(-) yu(-)
kuso(-)
e(-) aso(-) i(-)
u(-) uso(-)
Possessive: Emphatic:
nem(-) num(-) na- nu-
kom(-) yom(-) ku- yu-
em(-) im(-) a- i-
um(-) u-
The general and the possessive pronouns can also stand alone. The emphatic
pronouns, which differs from the general pronouns only in 1SG and 3SG.m, must
take a suffix (see below). The general pronouns by themselves are the unmarked
category, and are optional within a clause structure. Standing without suffix the
possessive pronouns are the unmarked possessive pronouns. With affixation they
loose their property of possession. All three sets can and do take some of the 15
different suffixes, which can themselves again be divided up into three categories:
Category 1: Category 2: Category 3:

-li RFLX -diw alike -kal EMPH
-lo ACC/BEN -i RFLX -kalem POSS.EMPH
-sik first -ikal too -kalti too.EMPH
-taka FOC.INTS -ikel EXCL -tew alike
-te FOC -isam straight
-isik first.EMPH
The suffixes of Category 1 only go with the general pronouns. Category 2 and 3 go
with the possessive, and the emphatic pronouns respectively:
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3

General X
Possessive X
Emphatic X
The suffixes -te, ‘FOC’ and -tew, ‘alike’ occur also as clitics on nominal phrases.
There are a few things to be noted:
Set - EMPH + EMPH Set

General ku-sik kom-isik Possessive ‘2SG-first’
Possessive kom-ikal ku-kalti Emphatic ‘2SG-too’
Possessive nem na-kalem Emphatic ‘my’
These three examples suggest, that the weightiness in EMPH moves from general
pronoun, over possessive pronouns, to emphatic pronoun, as the ‘heaviest’ stem in

terms of emphasis. Judging from that, there seems to be evidence to put kuli komi,
‘yourself’ in the same pattern, making komi ‘yourself + EMPH’ the more emphatic
over kuli ‘yourself - EMPH’, but that couldn’t be verified so far, as some possible
structures for obvious reasons don’t occur as frequent as others.
Following are a few examples on how to apply and translate some pronouns.
Example (1)
Ku -sik una!
you.SG first go.2SG.IMPV
‘You go first!’
Example (2)
Ku kante? Ne -te!
you.SG who? 1SG FOC
‘Who are you?’ ‘(It is) me!’
Example (3)
Aol be ais em- -diw.
Bush spirit DEF.m tree 3SG.m alike
‘The bush spirit looks like a tree.’
Example (4)
Em- -isam yak unse.
3.SG.m straight there go.GP.3SG.m
‘He went there straight away.’
Example (5)
Nu- -kal kal keluw tewe, kukuw ken gelewuma o!
we EMPH know do.1PL COND behavior good follow.1PL.IMPV VOC
‘If we know (it), let us do the good thing!’
Example (6)
Em- -ikel unaka.
3.SG.m EXCL go.3SG.m.FOC
‘He goes by himself.’
Example (7)
Nu- -kalem aatim kumelim.
1PL.POSS EMPH father inherited
‘Our inherited father(s).’

Example (8)
Kaso wal o!
2SG.DL alive VOC
‘Bye bye, you two!’
3.2.3.Structure of Demonstratives
There are a few basic demonstrative morphemes that are used either on their own or
in connection with each other. Here are two diagrams1:
Diagram 1:
up down sideways
not visible kanis kanel kaneng KA(-)
kamnis kamnel kamneng KAM-
visible minis minel mineng MI(N)-
manel maneng MA-
(-)NIS (-)NEL (-)NENG
These demonstratives are naturally directed, e.g. by a river, or a valley. One can tell
where the ‘head’ (above) and where the ‘tail’ (below) is.
Example (1)
Am kamnis une.
House up-there go.3SG.m
‘He goes up to the house (which is e.g. up the valley, but invisible behind a group
of trees).’
Example (2)
Am minis une.
‘He goes up to the house (which is e.g. up the valley, but visible from here).’
Example (3)
Kunum be kaneng une.
man DEF.m over-there go.3SG.m
‘The man goes over there (which is e.g. away from the river, up the sides of the
valley, and somewhere hidden away in the bush).’
1
Concerning the difference between the double set of visible and not-visible within each of the two
diagrams, c.f. chapter 11.1.

Example (4)
Am maneng teinbe.
house over-here sit.3SG.m
‘He is sitting in the house over here (e.g. close and next to the airfield).’
Diagram 2:
up down sideways
not visible katem kadak kayak KA(-)
kawtem kabalak kabyak KAW-
visible mitem mindak miyak MI(N)-
malak mayak MA-
(-)TEM (-)DAK (-)YAK
These demonstratives are general in meaning, i.e. relative to the hearer. If possible
though, naturally directed directionals are preferred over general directionals.
Mountain tops are always naturally directed, even though they could legally be
general in meaning (e.g. the mountain referred to is across the valley, and not down
or rather up the valley etc.).
KAW-. The final consonant is in neutral position; meaning, its voicing assimilates
with the following consonant. e.g.:
µvoice +voice +voice +voice
µvoice -voice -voice -voice
For some reason the voiced alveolar plosive in -dak changes its quality to a lateral
(which sounds very similar anyway), after ma-, and kaw-, the later even
reduplicating the vowel of -dak: malak and kabalak.
Example (5)
Am mitem unaka.
house up go.3SG.m
‘He goes up on a house (hearer is standing e.g. next to the house on the ground).’
Example (6)
Men miyak be.
bilum on-the-side be.3SG.m
‘The string bag is over there on the side (visible from where we are sitting).’
Example (7)
Miyak unika.
over-there go.1SG
‘I go over there (sideways from where we are talking now).’
Compare this example (7) to example (8)

Example (8)
Maneng unika.
over-there go.1SG
‘I go over there (a side of the airfield)’

4. Clitics
Clitics are a closed class. They do not have their own stress, but lean on what
precedes them. In Bimin orthography clitics are written as separate words.
4.1.Case Markers
kel LOC
so ACP
Example (1)
kunum so waneng so
man ACP woman ACP
‘men and women’
Example (2)
Nuk on so ase.
cuscus arrow ACP kill.GP.3SG.m
‘He killed a cuscus with an arrow.’
Example (3)
Abiw kale kel toloke.
place here LOC come.FUT.3SG.m
‘He will come to this place here.’
4.2.Limiters
Limiter clitics occur with nominal phrases.
gam also, too
ke partial
kuw only
tew alike
Example (1)
ne te kuw
1SG FOC only
‘It is me only!’
For more examples, cf. chapter 7.1. Nominal Phrase Structure.

4.3.Focus
te FOC
Example (1)
ne te kuw
1SG FOC only
‘It is me only!’
4.4.Other Clitics
sako TNT
tako OPT
tewe COND
This three clitics do not fit the structural property for Bimin clitics mentioned at the
start of this chapter: They do have a more stressed first syllable, and would therefore
perhaps better fit the category of particles. However, to simplify the analysis they
will for the present be interpreted as clitics. These morphemes come right after a
final verb.
Example (1)
Mewso iti tolokolew tako!
soon again come.FUT.2SG OPT
‘May you soon come back!’
Example (2)
Mewso iti toloke sako!
soon again come.FUT.3SG.m TNT
‘He might soon come back.’
Example (3)
Kunum unoke tewe, kut mian tolokoliw.
man go.FUT.3SG.m COND bush dog come.FUT.2/3PL
‘The wild dogs will come if the man goes away.’

5. Word Classes
Bimin has the following word classes based on the affixes they can take and their
function in the phrase:
1. Nouns
2. Pronouns
3. Demonstratives
4. Modifiers
5. Verbs
6. Adverbs
7. Conjunctions
8. Particles
5.1.Nouns
Nouns are an open word class that cannot take any affixation and functions as the
head of a nominal phrase.
In general the nouns are very straight forward. The only difference between
“categories” of nouns is not grammatical, but rather purely semantical. As long as a
statement makes sense to a speaker (or listener), nouns can be substituted freely.
Example (1)
Kunum mak min so am unaka.
man IDEF son with house go.3SG.m.
‘A man goes home with his son.’
Example (2)
Kunum mak biol so am unaka.
man IDEF bush knife with house go.3SG.m.
‘A man goes home with his bush knife.’
Example (3)
? Kaing mak biol so am unaka.
pig IDEF bush knife with house go.3SG.m.
‘A pig goes home with his bush knife’
Obviously the first two sentences make perfect sense, while the third sentence, even
though grammatically correct, does not make very much sense -- unless maybe in the
specific context of a certain fairy-tale kind of story.
Nevertheless, there is one class of nouns, that behaves slightly different from all the
rest: The kinship terms. They are inalienably possessed.
Any noun that needs to be specified with a possessive pronoun, has the respective
possessive pronoun just in front of it. Not so with the kinship and some relational

terms. Although it is not wrong to actually have a preceding possessive pronoun, it
certainly is not required, because the term itself indicates whose kin a certain person
is.
Example (4)
aatim ‘my/our father’
alew ‘his/her/2+3PL father’
kalew ‘your (SG) father’
Example (5)
yem ‘my/our mother’
auk ‘his/her/2+3PL mother’
kouk ‘your (SG) mother’
In addition, a very limited number of relational terms takes something like a plural
suffix -el. The number being so limited (we have only two examples in our lexicon:
yelim (SG) ‘father with child’ and yelimel (PL) ‘father with children’, and yat (SG)
‘mother with child’ and yatel (PL) ‘mother with children’ and their correspondent
possessive forms), they should rather be treated as different lexical entries and not as
a separate grammatical category.
Example (6)
yat mother and her child
yatel mother and her children
Example (7)
yelim father with child
yelimel father with children
In addition to the plural marker -el, these semantically compound nouns in example
(6) and (7), do also have a way to mark 1 person (i.e. n-), and 2/3 person (i.e. y-).
1 person 2 person
nat(el) ‘my mother with yat(el) ‘your/their mother with
child(ren)’ child(ren)’
nulum(el) ‘my father with yelim(el) ‘your/their father with
child(ren)’ child(ren)’
Example (8)
Q: Yatel nal unbiliw yak o?
Q: You, mother with children where go.2/3PL over there VOC
A: Natel kut unbuluw.
A: We, mother with children bush go.1PL
Q: ‘You, mother with your children, where are you going to?’ (And than, e.g., one
of the kids, answers:) A: ‘We, my mother and us, are going to the bush.’

Example (9)
Q: Yelim yong unsiliw?
Q: You, father and child new garden go.2/3PL
A: No, nulum yong unsuluw.
A: Yes, we father and child new garden go.1PL
Q: ‘Did you (father and child) go to the new garden?’ A: ‘Yes, we (father and
child) went to the new garden.’
Body part nouns may be used as numerals and then function in the numeral phrase
(cf. chapter 7.3.2 Numeral Phrases).
5.2.Pronouns
Pronouns are a closed class of words that take pronominal suffixes and function as
heads of nominal phrases instead of nouns.
There are three basic stems for pronouns (top to bottom, left to right: 1SG, 2SG,
3SG.m, 3SG.f, 1PL, 2PL, 3PL. The general pronouns also have a dual form, which
carries gender: middle row, top to bottom: 1DL, 2DL.m, 2DL.f, 3DL.m, 3DL.f):
General:
ne(-) neso(-) nu(-)
ku(-) kaso(-) yu(-)
kuso(-)
e(-) aso(-) i(-)
u(-) uso(-)
Possessive: Emphatic:
nem(-) num(-) na- nu-
kom(-) yom(-) ku- yu-
em(-) im(-) a- i-
um(-) u-
The general and the possessive pronouns can also stand alone. The emphatic
pronouns, which differs from the general pronouns only in 1SG and 3SG.m, must
take a suffix (see below). The general pronouns by themselves are the unmarked
category, and are optional within a clause structure. Standing without suffix the
possessive pronouns are the unmarked possessive pronouns. With affixation they
loose their property of possession. All three sets can and do take some of the 15
different suffixes, which can themselves again be divided up into three categories:
Category 1: Category 2: Category 3:

-li RFLX -diw alike -kal EMPH
-lo ACC/BEN -i RFLX -kalem POSS.EMPH
-sik first -ikal too -kalti too.EMPH
-taka FOC.INTS -ikel EXCL -tew alike
-te FOC -isam straight
-isik first.EMPH

The suffixes of Category 1 only go with the general pronouns. Category 2 and 3
exclusively go with the possessive, and the emphatic pronouns respectively:
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3

General X
Possessive X
Emphatic X
The suffix -tew occurs also as a clitic tew on nominal phrases. It compares two
themes: ‘like/alike’. Here it functions as a suffix after emphatic pronouns.
Example (1)
Kayow ataan telin tew kese.
moon sun come.NZ alike make.GP.3SG.m
‘His coming was like the moon and sun.’
Example (2)
Aol be ais a- -tew.
bush spirit DEF.m tree 3.SG.m alike
Following are a few examples on how to apply and translate some pronouns.
Example (3)
Ku -sik una!
you.SG first go.2SG.IMPV
‘You go first!’
Example (4)
Ku kante? Ne -te!
you.SG who? 1SG FOC
‘Who are you?’ ‘(It is) me!’
Example (5)
Aol be ais em- -diw.
Bush spirit DEF.m tree 3SG.m alike
Example (6)
Em- -isam yak unse.
3.SG.m straight there go.GP.3SG.m
‘He went there straight away.’

Example (7)
Nu- -kal kal keluw tewe, kukuw ken gelewuma o!
we EMPH know do.1PL COND behavior good follow.1PL.IMPV VOC
‘If we know (it), let us do the good thing!’
Example (8)
Em- -ikel unaka.
3.SG.m EXCL go.3SG.m.FOC
‘He goes by himself.’
Example (9)
Nu- -kalem aatim kumelim.
1PL.POSS EMPH father inherited
‘Our inherited father(s).’
Example (10)
Ka- -so wal o!
2SG DBL alive VOC
‘Bye bye, you two!’
5.3.Demonstratives
The demonstratives are a closed class of words that function as modifiers in the
nominal phrase
Here are the two diagrams1 again, which were discussed in chapter 4.2.3 Structure of
Demonstratives:
Diagram 1:
up down sideways
not visible kanis kanel kaneng KA(-)
kamnis kamnel kamneng KAM-
visible minis minel mineng MI(N)-
manel maneng MA-
(-)NIS (-)NEL (-)NENG
These demonstratives are naturally directed, e.g. by a river, or a valley. One can tell
where the ‘head’ (above) and where the ‘tail’ (below) is.
1
Concerning the difference between the double set of visible and not-visible within each of the two
diagrams, c.f. chapter 11.1.

Example (1)
Am kamnis une.
‘He goes up to the house (which is e.g. up the valley, but invisible behind a group
of trees).’
Example (2)
Am maneng teinbe.
house over-here sit.3SG.m
‘He is sitting in the house over here (e.g. close and next to the airfield).’
Diagram 2:
up down sideways
not visible katem kadak kayak KA(-)
kawtem kabalak kabyak KAW-
visible mitem mindak miyak MI(N)-
malak mayak MA-
(-)TEM (-)DAK (-)YAK
These demonstratives are general in meaning, e.g. relative to the hearer. If possible
though, naturally directed directionals are preferred over general directionals.
Mountain tops are always naturally directed, even though they could legally be
general in meaning (e.g. if the mountain referred to is across a valley, and not down,
or rather up the valley etc.).
Example (3)
Am mitem unaka.
house up go.3SG.m
‘He goes up on a house.’
Example (4)
Men miyak be.
bilum on-the-side Be.3SG.m
‘The string bag is over there on the side (from where we are sitting).’
Interesting is the irregular absence of the morpheme connections with MA-, in the
semantical meaning of ‘up’. Both “manis” and “matem” don’t occur in these
diagrams. While “matem” has changed its meaning to ‘physical realm’ and
‘somewhere at a specific place’, “manis” doesn’t have any meaning, or at least the
meaning is now lost with the occurring language changes.
The morphemes that are underlined (nis, ‘up-there’; nel, ‘down-there’; neng, ‘over-
there’ and tem, ‘above’; dak, ‘below’ yak, ‘over-there’) can all be used by
themselves, too. In that case they keep their feature of general vs. natural
directedness, and also their direction meaning, but loose the aspect of visibility. ka

lost its meaning of directedness and means ‘here’. There used to be an equivalent to
ka: min (meaning ‘here’ too?), but it sounds antique nowadays and is no longer in
general use.
Example (5)
Ka kel tele.
here LOC come.3SG.m
‘He came here.’
Example (6)
Am matem tala!
house inside come.2SG
‘Come inside!’
Example (7)
Abiw nel kunum mak
place down-there man IDEF
‘A man from the place down there (following the river down).’
5.4.Modifiers
Modifiers are an open class of words that function as heads of a modifier phrase.
This modifier phrase in turn may function as a modifier within a nominal phrase or
within a verb phrase, but also on its own, as a comment in a verbless clause.
The Bimin language has a fairly large modifier class. Modifiers that modify a noun
immediately follow the head noun. Modifiers that modify a verb, immediately
precede the head verb. With some modifiers that serve as modifying verbs as well as
nouns, like “fian” ‘big’, “fong” ‘small’, there is the possibility of ambiguity. cf.
chapter 7.2 Verbal Phrases.
Example (1)
Wanin abal wanbuluw.
food good-tasting eat.1PL
‘We eat good tasting food.’
Example (2)
Waneng atite bu am unsu.
woman beautiful DEF.f house go.3SG.f
‘The beautiful woman went home.’
Example (3)
Kunum e fongate kate awkol talse.
man FOC quick but careful come.GP.3SG.m
‘The man came quickly but carefully.’

Example (4)
Waneng kitil so fian so mak
woman strong ACC big ACC IDEF.f
‘A strong and big/tall woman.’
Some quantifying modifiers (ban, dem) reduplicate their root to intensify the huge
number.
ban plenty (general)
dem plenty (cognitive with dem ‘seed, fruit’ “not countable”?)
bol plenty (occurs very rarely)
tulun plenty (a loan word from Oksapmin)
yemkel abundant
Example (5)
Aul gel banban
children small plenty.DUP
‘A lot of small children.’
Example (6)
Waneng aul ban so talsu.
woman children plenty ACP come.GP.3SG.f
‘The woman with the many children came.’
Example (7)
Kaing bu men banban dukusu.
woman DEF.f offspring plenty.DUP give-birth.GP.3SG.f
‘This woman gave birth to a huge number of piglets.’
5.5.Verbs
The verbs are an open class of words that take verbal affixation and function as
heads of verb phrases. There are intransitive, transitive, and bitransitive verbs based
on their structure.
Intransitive verbs cannot take neither accusative nor benefactor affixes. Examples:
un, ‘go’, tal, ‘come’, tein, ‘sit’, etc.
Transitive verbs take either an accusative or a benefactor affix, but don’t need to
have any of them. Examples are the very common proverbs ke, ‘do/make’ (-- takes
only benefactor suffixes) and ang, ‘do/make, say’ (-- takes only accusative prefixes).
Bitransitive verbs take both accusative and benefactor affixes, or either one of them,
but they do not need to take any. Example: bokol, ‘say/speak’, du, ‘give’, etc.

As stated above in the chapter about verb morphology, the basic verb structure for
final verbs is:
1 2 3 4 5
µ ACC + N µ BEN µ ASP + TNS + NOM µ PFCT
For the structure of the medial and serial verbs, cf. chapter 4.2.1 Structure of Verbs.
5.5.1.Subject Suffix
The subject suffix is in the forth order of the suffixes. There are two basic sets of
subject suffixes:
(Top to bottom, left to right: 1SG, 2SG, 3SG.m, 3.SG.f, 1PL, 2.PL, 3.PL.m/f)
Set 1 Set 2 Set 3

-(l)i -(l)uw -i -uluw -eli -uluw
-(l)ew -(l)iw -lew -iliw -elew -eliw
-(l)e -(l)iw -e -iliw -ele -eliw
-(l)u -u -elu -eliw
The optional l, comes in after preceding open syllables.

Set 1 is used in Present and Future tense. Set 2 is used for the past tense and with the
IPC form in the present tense. Set 3 is used only for the verb in the speech initiating
clause, cf. chapter 9.2.4 Direct and Indirect Speech.
Example (1)
un- -Ø -uw
go- -PR -1PL
‘We go.’
Example (2)
Un- -oko -luw
go- -FUT -1PL
‘We will go.’
Example (3)
Un- -s -uluw
go- -GP -1PL
‘We went.’
Example (4)
un- -b -uluw
go- -IPC -1PL
‘We are going.’

Example (5)
Ku boko- -nem -om -elew: “No”, nagselew.
2SG say BEN.1SG NSEQ 2SG yes ACC.1SG.say.GP.2SG.
‘You (SG) said to me: “Yes”(, you said to me).’
A quite common suffix appended to the general pronoun is the “in-focus-setter”

(FOC) -ka. It is used in a story, when something unexpected happens ( draws the
focus to) outside of the direct story flow. These are the forms of the subject suffixes
used in such cases: (Again, 2. and 3. PL have the same forms)
SG PL
1. -i-ka -uw-ka
2. -lew-ka -iw-ka
3.m -a-ka2 -iw-ka
3.f -u-ka -iw-ka
Example (6)
Mian sel tal- -a -ka.
dog big come 3.SG.m FOC
‘A big dog comes!’
Example (7)
Am un- -i -ka.
house go 1.SG FOC
‘I go home (now).’
Example (8)
Kawtiw tel- -iw -ka.
people come 3.PL FOC
‘There are (not expected) people coming.’
5.5.2.Accusative Prefix
These prefixes are exclusively accusative. Five sets of those prefixes are attached
lexically to a verb stem. There isn’t any rule (except for the rule that a verb stem
starting with a vowel wouldn’t take a prefix ending with a vowel), semantically or
whatsoever to determine which prefix goes with which kind of verbs. In other words:
the prefixes go lexically with the verb.
A possible explanation for the different prefixes may be that there are classes of
verbs based on transitivity.
(Top to bottom: 1SG, 2SG, 3SG.m, 3SG.f; PL is always the same within a set.):
2
The non-regular vowel quality -a in 3.SG.m is evidence for the incomplete vowel harmony in the
Bimin language, where the quality of -e adjusts to the quality of the following suffix.

Set 1 Set 3 Set 5
na- ye- n- y- ne- ye-

ka- k- ka-
a- d- e-
wa- w- we-
Set 2 Set 4
nem- im- nem- im-

kom- kom-
em- daw-
um- wam-
Example (1)
na- -tem- -∅ -e
1SG.ACC- see -PR -3SG.m
‘He sees me.’
Example (2)
um- -boko- -s -e
3SG.f.ACC- speak -GP -3SG.m
‘He told her.’
Example (3)
d- -ang- -ok -i
3SG.m.ACC- say -FUT -1SG
‘I will tell him.’
Example (4)
daw- -su- -b -i
3SG.m.ACC- rejoice -IPC -1SG
‘I’m rejoicing in him.’
Example (5)
we- -nge- -s -iliw
3SG.f.ACC- pass on as a heritage -GP -2/3PL
‘They passed it on to her as a heritage.’

5.5.3.Benefactor Suffix
The benefactor suffixes are first order suffixes. There are two benefactor suffix sets.
Again, there is no rule to be applied for which verb takes which affix.
(Top to bottom: 1SG, 2SG, 3SG.m, 3SG.f; plurals are all the same within a set):
Set 1 Set 2
-(e)nem -(e)yem -em -yem

-(e)kem -kem
-(e)lew -tew
-(e)um -um
Set 1 has the option of taking an e before the appropriate suffix if the verb stem is
ending in a consonant.
Example (1)
boko -lew -∅ -u
speak 3SG.m.BEN PR 3SG.f
‘She speaks to him.’
Example (2)
angg -enem -s -e
wrap up 1SG.BEN GP 3SG.m
‘He wrapped it up for me.’
Example (3)
ging -tew -∅ -i
wash 3SG.m.BEN PR 1SG
‘I wash it for him.’
Example (4)
ke -yem -s -e
do BEN.PL GP 3SG.m
‘He did it for them.’
Although, theoretically, it is possible to have a maximum of three different
participants represented in one predicate, the rules of the language allow a maximum
of only two. That means, that if a predicate has the maximum extension of an
ACC.PF, an BEN.SF and the NOM.SF, than any two of the three participants have to
represent the same actor, giving him an additional emphasis. Examples:

Example (5) *** incorrect ***
* nem- -boko- -kem -s -e
ACC.1SG say BEN.2SG GP 3SG.m
*** ‘He told me for your benefit.’ ***
Example (6)
nem- -boko- -kem -s -i
ACC.1SG say BEN.2SG GP 1SG
‘I, myself, told you.’
Example (7)
nem- -boko- -nem -s -e
ACC.1SG say BEN.1SG GP 3SG.m
‘He told me!’
Example (8)
nem- -du- -lew -s -e
ACC.1SG give BEN.3SG.m GP 3SG.m
‘He gave me to himself.’
Example (9)
kom- -boko- -s -e
ACC.2SG say GP 3.SG.m
‘He told you.’
Example (10)
boko- -kem -s -e
say- BEN.2SG GP 3SG.m
‘He told you.’
Example (8) sounds awkward, but it may occur in a certain context. Example (9) and
Example (10) have the same translation, but Example (9) is far less frequent and
therefore the marked version, giving the addressee more focus/emphasis.
5.5.4.Tense
The tense suffix is a third order suffix.
The three basic tense markers for present (PR), general past (GP) and future (FUT)
are the following:
PR -∅ pr Set 1
GP -s pr Set 2
FUT -ok(o) pr Set 1

These three basic tenses are rather straight forward, and there isn’t really anything to
be added here. Again, the vowel in brackets in the future suffix indicates that the
vowel is dropped if the subject suffix starts with a vowel.
The subject suffix set, which each of the tenses take are described earlier in this
chapter.
Example (1)
un- -Ø -iw
go PR 2./3.PL
‘They/You (PL) go.’
Example (2)
un- -s -iliw
go GP 2./3.PL
‘They/You (PL) went.’
Example (3)
un- -ok -e
go FUT 3.SG.m
‘He will go.’
Example (4)
un- -oko -liw
go FUT 2./3.PL
‘You (SG) will go.’
The past tense has two more forms that indicate actions that have happened closer to
“now”. One is the Immediate Past Continuous (IPC) which would cover the past up
to around this morning, and the other is the Further Past (FP), which covers the past
up to yesterday, maybe even up to the day before yesterday. The time frame is not
absolutely set, but depends on the liking of the speaker.
It is hard to decide if the immediate past continuous is a tense or an aspect as it has

both components of meaning. It will be listed with the aspects too.
Both forms (immediate past continuous, and further past) take subject suffix set 2,
and have the following tense suffix immediately preceding the subject suffix:
IPC -b + S SF set 2
FP -es + S SF set 2

Example (5)
un- -s -iliw
go GP 2./3.PL
‘They went’
Example (6)
un- -es -iliw
go FP 2./3.PL
‘They went (yesterday)’
Example (7)
un- -b -iliw
go IPC 2/3PL
‘They went (this morning/just now)’
Both immediate past continuous and further past tense are not used that much –
unless a Bimin speaker wants to make a point in these time frames. In that case the
order of furthest to closest past would be:
GP PR
GP FP IPC PR
But generally general past is used in most instances covering the whole range of
past; thus the name: General past.
5.5.4.2.Irregular Verbs
There are two very common irregular verbs in Bimin. One is tal- ‘come’ and the
other one is b- ‘be’.
a) The verb tal- ‘come’

With this verb the vowel of the verb root changes according to the vowel of the next
syllable attached to the stem – if this attached suffix is a V(C) syllable. For C(V)
syllable suffixes the verb root stays the same, i.e. a. Again, this is evidence for
incomplete vowel harmony in Bimin.
The rules of change are as following:
attached SF vowel vb stem change to examples

i e teliw
e e tele
u u tuluw
o o toloke

Example (1)
tal- -s -e
come GP 3.SG.m
‘He came.’
b) The verb b- ‘be’

This verb has two roots; one for present and future and one for past.
PR FUT PST
b- b- a-
The subject suffix coming after this special form of the past, is not as expected set 2,
but rather set 1. On the other hand the present root takes the subject suffix of set 2
instead of set 1.
Example (2)
al -liw
be.PST 2./3.PL
‘They/You (PL) were/lived’
Example (3)
b- -iliw
be.PR 2/3PL
‘you(PL)/they are’
5.5.5.Aspect
Bimin aspects are expressed by verbal affixation, nominalisation, and a serial verb
construction. The serial verb construction expresses continuous aspect and is
described in chapter 7.2.2 Serialization.
The perfective aspect is a fifth order suffix, Durative, iterative, and copying aspects
are second order suffixes. Inceptive aspect is expressed by a set phrase
(nominalisation plus a pro-verb), but will still be described below.
5.5.5.1.Perfective (PFCT)
Perfective carries a kind of factual and final meaning: ‘That is how it was/is going to
be, and it was not/is not going to be different’. Even though the meaning of this
aspect is hard to describe in a few words, it is very common in the remote past
narratives and is the unmarked construction for all the traditional stories. Modern
narratives though, almost never include this aspect.
The marker for the perfective aspect is -kale. This suffix has a different position than
all the other aspect markers. It is last in the row of possible suffixes a final verb can
take. The two tenses it goes with are general past (GP) and future (FUT). In

connection with the general past is its most frequent occurrence. Then it almost takes
the function of an own category of tense: The very far, or historical past. All the
traditional stories go with this construction, since they tell of times from before.
Example (1)
Kilkemin awon be un -s -e -kale
The creator bird go GP 3SG.m PFCT
‘The creator bird did go (a long time ago).’
Example (2)
Kunum mak un- ok -e -kale
A man go FUT 3SG.m PFCT
‘A man will be gone.’
5.5.5.2.Immediate Past Continuous (IPC)
The most common aspect marker in everyday life is the immediate continuous
marker -b. It parallels the English use of “to be + …-ing” very much. This aspect has
also been listed further up within the previous section dealing with tense. That is
because this aspect can occur together with the durative aspect, taking the slot
reserved for tense:
Normal verb final construction: + N µ ASP µ TNS + NOM
IPC verb final construction: + N µ DUR + IPC + NOM
Example (1)
un- -b -e
go IPC 3.SG.m
‘He (just went and) is (still) going.’
Example (2)
un- -em -b -e
go DUR IPC 3SG.m
‘He keeps on going and going.’
5.5.5.3.Durative (DUR)
The regular durative markers are -(e)m for present and future, and -(e)ma, -ena, -
ame for past tense. Which one of the three past tense durative suffixes is used with
which verb is determined lexically. A few examples:
Example (1)
Kunum be un- -em -∅ -e
The man go DUR PR 3.SG.m
‘The man keeps going.’

Example (2)
Kunum be un- -em -ok -e
The man go DUR FUT 3.SG.m
‘The man will keep going.’
Example (3)
un- -ema -liw
go- DUR.PST 2/3PL
‘They/You (PL) kept going.’
Example (4)
wan- -ena -liw
eat- DUR.PST 2/3PL
‘They/You (PL) kept eating.’
Example (5)
ate- -ame -liw
see- DUR.PST 2/3PL
‘They/You (PL) kept seeing him.’
These are the regular ways to make an action durative for the regular verb. Then
there is one word (there might be more!) that marks the durative aspect with
reduplication, and many verbs that do not have their own durative – but rather go
along with the pro-verb ke- ‘do/make’ which then carries the durative marker.
Example (6)
kili- -∅ -liw kili- -kili- -∅ liw
hear PR 2/3PL hear DUP PR 2/3PL
‘They/You (PL) hear.’ ‘They/You (PL) keep hearing.’
Example (7)
tein ke- -ema -liw
sit PV DUR 2/3PL
‘They/You (PL) kept sitting.’
Example (8)
du- -∅ -liw
give PR 2/3PL
‘They/You (PL) give.’
Example (9)
du- -lew du- -lew ke- -∅ liw
give BEN.3SG.m give BEN.3SG.m PV PR 2/3PL
‘They/You (PL) keep giving/distribute to him.’

Example (9) is a little bit different from the rest. It is a combination of reduplication
and construction with a pro-verb.
5.5.5.4.Iterative
The marker for iterative actions in present is -aka, and for past -akakal.
Example (1)
doko- -yem -aka -b -e
help BEN.PL REP.PR IPC 3SG.m
‘He is helping us again and again.’
Example (2)
un- -akakal -iw
go REP.PST 2/3PL
‘They/You (PL) went again and again.’
5.5.5.5.Copying
Three verbs can take an aspect marker that indicates the exact same action happening
all over again and again. The marker for this is -d.
Example (1)
duku- -d -aka
beget REP 3.SG.m.FOC
‘He begets and begets and begets…
Example (2)
boko- -d -aka
say REP 3.SG.m.FOC
‘He keeps telling the same story again and again.’
Example (3)
aka- -d -aka
sleep REP 3.SG.m.FOC
‘He keeps sleeping, but nothing changes.’
5.5.5.6.Inceptive
For the construction of this aspect the following elements are needed:
+ N + NZ µ PER + PV
That is a nominalized verb (with or without benefactor suffix) plus a pro-verb, which
would take the usual verb affixation. For the periphery, could stand some kind of a
modifying phrase.

Example (1)
kuku- -yem -in ke- -s -iliw
show BEN.PL NZ PV GP 2./3.PL
‘They/You (PL) started to show/teach them.’
Example (2)
kuan- -om -in kis kese.
die NSEQ NZ almost do.GP.3SGm
‘He almost started to die.’
Example (3)
Fingan -in fian sel kesiliw.
afraid NZ big INTS do.GP.2/3PL
‘They started to be very much afraid.’
Example (2) and (3) shows that the nominalized verb and the pro-verb do not need to
be immediately next to each other, but can have periphery between them.
5.5.6.Modality
The four Bimin modii are indicative (unmarked forms) imperative (IMPV), optative
(OPT), and tentative (TNT). Even though optative and tentative are expressed by
enclitics rather than affixation, they will be described here.
The unmarked indicative has been addressed so far. Indicative is the most common
mode. To make it more transparent, the two indicative subject suffix paradigms are
given here again:
Set 1 Set 2
-(l)i -(l)uw -i -uluw

-(l)ew -(l)iw -lew -iliw
-(l)e -(l)iw -e -iliw
-(l)u -u
Although both Set 1 and Set 2 are given here, Set 2 does not go with either tentative
nor optative modii. The reason is, that Set 2 goes with past tense and none of these
two modii go with past, but only with present and future. Therefore, here only Set 1
comes into focus.
5.5.6.1.Optative and Tentative
In order to make an indicative sentence/clause optative, the clitic tako is added

immediately after the sentence final verb.
Similarly, to make a statement tentative, the clitic sako is added right after the final
verb.

Example (1)
Kunum Fian e yulo bamki so dukule tako.
God 3SG.m ACC.PL blessing ACP put.3SG.m OPT
‘May God bless you (PL).’
Example (2)
Fongate iti tolokoliw tako.
Soon again come.FUT.2./3.PL OPT
‘I/we wish they/you (PL) will come back soon.’
Example (3)
Ku ‘Bayo!’ nangokolew sako!
You ‘No!’ ACC.1.SG.say.FUT.2.SG TNT
‘You might say ‘No!’ to me.’
Example (4)
Maka ilum mak elo kululei, e kuanoke sako!
enemy heavy IDEF ACC.3SG.m get.DS 3SG.m die.FUT.3SG.m TNT
‘An accident might happen and he could die.’
5.5.6.2.Imperative
For the imperative (IMPV) – and as can be seen from the following diagram:
imperative includes hortative -- a whole different set of subject suffixes is used:
1SG -o 1PL -uma
2SG -a 2PL -ina
Example (1)
Un- -uma!
Go IMPV.1PL
‘Let us go!’
Example (2)
Nem weng kilil- -ina!
my talk hear IMPV.2PL
‘Listen (PL) to my talk/words!’
Example (3)
Kom yan weng kilil- -o!
your answer hear- IMPV.1SG
‘Let me hear your answer! / I want to hear your answer!’

5.6.Adverbs
5.6.1.Temporal Adverbs
The temporal adverbs are a closed class of words functioning as head of temporal
phrases. They take no affixation. They may take clitics.
soa ‘before’
sow ‘later (general)’
sin ‘yesterday’
usin ‘day-before-yesterday’
anfel ‘finally’
mesik ‘later (soon)’
kanesom ‘later (maybe tomorrow)’
Example (1)
Soa e, kilkemin awon gel alenale.
Before 3SG.m creator bird small be.GP.3SG.m
‘Before there was a small creator bird.’
Example (2)
Soa kel, kilkemin awon gel alenale.
Before STAT creator bird small be.GP.3SG.m
‘Before at that time, there was a small creator bird.’
Example (3)
Kel ding mak unsu.
STAT day IDEF go.GP.3SG.f
‘She went on a certain day.’
5.7.Conjunctions
Conjunctions are a closed word class that function coordinating words, phrases and
clauses.

besike3 ‘therefore’ (coordinates clauses only)
kasike ‘therefore’ (coordinates clauses only)
kate ‘but’ (occurs between words, phrases or clauses)
meni ‘or’ (occurs between words, phrases or clauses)
Example (1)
Sin meni usine talse?
yesterday or day-before-yesterday come.GP.3.SG.m
‘Did he come yesterday or the day before yesterday?’
Example (2)
Mian wa kese kasike, e keisuw fian kese.
dog bad do.GP.3SG.m therefore 3SG.m furious big do.GP.3.SG.m
‘The dog did wrong and therefore he became very furious.’
Example (3)
Aul be sukum kate kitil.
child DEF.m short but strong
‘This child is short but strong.’
5.8.Particles
The particles are a closed class of words that take no further affixation. They can be
grouped into four groups:
1. Onomatopoetic
2. Set Phrases
3. Grammatical
4. Question Words
3
Until now it is not clear yet what the difference between kasike and besike is. The conjunction
kasike is by far more common than besike.

Onomatopoetic Set Phrases
ai ssst!, mmh! aoo OK!
ebe wow! bakalik enough!
ebo wow! bebeles encore!
kaan come! (for pigs) belew yako Hi (SG)!
kai mmh... betekuw The End.
kee ssst! biliw yako Hi (PL)!
kui bounce off (for arrows) bulio hurrah!
woo aa? kalaka this!
yakae oh!, oops! kane like that
yes missed (for arrows) kaneko later
kaneming what-so-ever
kanemok “maski”
kanesom later
kano yeah!
kawtiwo help!
kelelbi take care!
kewkew take care!
ki enough
kika OK!
kimi enough, stop it!
site come! (for dogs)
wes thanks!
wis get it!

Grammatical Question Words
akokow don’t know kalete this?
aliw kind of kameli how?
ba no kante who?
bayo no! nal where?
be DEF.m nal em tit when?
bi DEF.PL nano how?
bu DEF.f nimin whose?
ete INTS nimtew what?
fe enough, finally nimtew angom why?
iti again nolin how much?
kelamente another kind nomin how much?
kis almost nono what?
mak IDEF uli where?
makso another
nam PNEG; INTS
no yes
o VOC
olo again
sele yet
ad Onomatopoetic Particles:
Example (1)
kaan! kaan! kaan!
Come! come! come!
‘Come here!’ imitating the sounds of pigs, calling them to come.
Example (2)
Nem yes!
1POSS missed
‘You missed me with your arrow! (Lit.: ‘(You) missed mine!’)’

ad Set Phrases Particles:
I describe these set phrases as particles because they have become frozen forms. For
some of them it is still possible to trace the component parts, but the meaning is not
necessarily the sum of the meanings of the parts.
Example (3)
kawtiwo!
kawtiw o
People VOC
‘Help!’ shouted by somebody in distress.
Example (4)
belew yak o!
be.2SG there VOC!
‘Hi!’ Used for greeting a single person.
The verb kano ‘happen’ seems to be a very handy word for this category. There are
six, maybe more, particles with this verb as a root:
kane ‘like that’

kaneko ‘later’
kanemok “maski”
kanesom ‘later’
kano ‘yeah!’
kaneming ‘what-so-ever’
ad Grammatical Particles:
These particles can be further grouped into sub-groups:
1. Articles:
be DEF.m
bu DEF.f
bi DEF.PL
mak IDEF
makso another
2. Pro-Sentence:
akokow don’t know
ba no
bayo no!
no yes

3. Aspect Particles
fe finally
iti again
nam PNEG; INTS
kis almost
olo again
sele yet
4. Other
aliw kind of
ete INTS
kelamente another kind
o VOC
Example (5)
Kunum mak am unse.
Man IDEF house go.GP.3.SG.m
‘A man went home.’
Example (6)
Q: Nomin kaing biliw? A: Ketket teben o!
Q: how_many pig be.2/3PL A: five next_to VOC
‘How many pigs are there?’ ‘Four!’
Example (7)
Kanesom, kunum be iti kut unse.
later, man DEF.m again bush go.GP.3SG.m
‘Later the man went into the bush again.’
Example (8)
Kuanomin kis kesi.
die.NZ almost make.GP.1SG
‘I almost died. (Lit: I almost started to die.)’
ad Question Words. I analyzed the question words as particles, because they do not
take any further affixes and they function within a clause as a place-holder for the
answer that is asked for, i.e. if the information asked for is going to stand at the first
place within the answering clause (usually applying to a subject), than the question
particle stands at the first place in the asking clause, too. If the supplied answer is to
stand second place (usually modifyier), than that is the place of the question particle
in the asking clause etc.
Example (9)
Kante tolokoliw? Kunum banso tolokoliw.
Who come.FUT.2/3PL man plenty come.FUT.2/3PL
‘Who (PL) will come? Plenty men will come.’

Example (10)
Kunum nomin talbiliw? Kunum alemsal talbiliw.
Man how many come.3PL man three come.3PL
‘How many man are coming? Three men are coming.’

6. Phrase Structure
6.1.Nominal Phrases
Nominal phrases function as subject, object, indirect object and also in peripheral
phrases like accompaniment and instrumental, as well as locative and temporal
phrases.
Subject and object phrases are marked mainly by word order, pronoun copy may be
used to disambiguate it, especially as there is an accusative suffix that goes with a
pronoun.
Accompaniment and instrumental are marked with the clitic so, which is described
later in 7.1.2.
Locative and temporal phrases, as well as numeral phrases are marked with the clitic
kel, cf. 7.1.3.
Following is a set of indefinite and definite articles, that function much as the
English articles ‘a’ and ‘the’ do.
mak IDEF
be DEF.m
bu DEF.f
bi DEF.PL
I will now describe the different structures of the nominal phrases.
6.1.1.Structure
6.1.1.1.Simple Nominal Phrases
The basic Structure is:
µ GEN.NP + N µ MP µ NUM µ DEM µ ART
The “maximal” nominal phrase:
Example (1)
abiw alew be im kunum am fian sel
place two DEF.m POSS.PL man house big INTS
GEN.NP N MP
gung kel mak
six LOC IDEF
NUM ART
‘The two places’ six very big men’s houses’

Simple nominal phrases can be very long and rather complex, specially with the
option of embedding (cf. below). The only restriction seems to be that the
demonstrative element and the numeral element cannot go together.
The minimal nominal phrase, consists of only a noun (or a pronoun). If the head is a
pronoun, it cannot take any modifiers.
Example (2)
Mian fon une.
Dog run go.3SG
‘(The) dog runs away.’
Example (3)
E une.
3.SG.m go.3.SG.m
‘He goes.’
Example (4)
Weng bokola!
NP VP
‘Talk a talk!’
Example (5)
kunum mak
man IDEF
‘a man’
Example (6)
Am kamins une.
house up_there go.3SG.m
‘He goes to the house up there.’
A nominal phrase could be modified by another nominal phrase marked with so,
‘ACP’.
Example (7)
Kunum finik wa so mak
man spirit bad ACP IDEF
‘A man with a bad spirit’
6.1.1.2.Embedding of Nominal Phrases
The only restriction on how many nominal phrases e.g. genitive nominal phrases,
could be imbedded into each other is how the speaker likes to phrase his clause –
and, after a string of nominal phrases, how much of his communication he wants to

be comprehended. Similar to Greek and German the language allows these genitive
nominal phrase strings, but they make communication after a certain limit awkward.
A genitive nominal phrase always immediately precedes the governing nominal
phrase. A genitive construction is expressed by juxtaposition.
Example (1)
Tengistikin abiw kunum am ayem sel
Tengistikin place men house sacred big
GEN.NP GEN.NP GEN.NP N.NP
GEN.NP GEN.NP N.NP1
GEN.NP N.NP2
‘Tengistikin place’s great sacred men’s house’
A nominal phrase is not restricted to only one, but theoretically -- not practically,
though – to any unlimited number of modifying phrases after a noun. These
modifying phrases could either just be added one after the other, or, which is more
common, connected with the clitic conjunction so, ‘ACP; and’, i.e. a coordinated
modifier phrase:
Example (2)
kunum fian kitil nam sel
man big strong INTS big
N MP1 MP2
‘A big, very strong man.’
Example (3)
kunum fian so kitil nam sel so
man big ACP strong INTS big ACP
N MP1 MP2
‘A big and very strong man.’
6.1.1.3.Nominal Phrase with Relative Clause or Phrase
The basic structure of a nominal phrase with a relative clause or phrase is as follows:
+ REL.CL + N µ ART
Example (1)
kunum mamtel nam kunum mak
man1 crazy INTS man1 IDEF
‘a man who is crazy’

Example (2)
Kunum mak e fut ken mak dunemselew
man IDEF 3SG.m book1 good IDEF give.BEN.1SG.GP.2SG
S O
fut be iti yekut kese.

book1 DEF.m again steal do.GP.3SG.m
MP V
‘A man again stole the book from me, which you had given me.’
6.1.1.4.Compound Nominal Phrases
The basic structure, which is theoretically limitless expandable is:

+ NP µ NP …µ NP +NP
Example (1)
Waneng so kunum so
woman ACP man ACP
‘woman/women and man/men’
Example (2)
Kunum so, waneng so, ikalem aul gelgel so
man ACP woman ACP POSS.PL children small.INTS ACP
aul beliw so, ikalem mian so, i….
children nursing ACP POSS.PL dog ACP 3PL
‘men, and women, and their small children and nursing babies, and their dogs,
they….’
Some more examples for nominal phrases:
Example (3)
Katok aso im am kale kel bokoluw.
Katok 3DL.m POSS.2/3PL house here LOC stay.1PL
‘We stay here in the two’s, Katok and his/her, house.’
These nominal phrases function the same way in the subject slot, as well as for the
object, and any peripheral slots within a clause/sentence. Some examples:
Example (4)
Ok demenu.
Water give.3SG.f
‘She gives him water.’

Example (5)
Yemen soul so be diw wanin ba
Taro sweet potato ACP DEF.m together eat.NZ NEG
kemaluw te.
make.1PL FOC
‘Together (e.g. husband & wife), we did not eat the taro and the sweet potatoes.’
Example (6)
Ding dim mak, kunum aul mak dukusu.
day time IDEF man child IDEF bear.GP.3SG.f
‘One day she gave birth to a baby boy.’
Example (7)
Abiw musun fian kel teinbe.
place garden big LOC sit.IPC.3SG.m
‘He is sitting in the big village garden.’
There are a few clitic case markers that may go with nominal phrases:
6.1.2.Accompanying so
An accompanying marking clitic so is most often best translated simply as “and”:
Example (1)
Kunum so waneng so unbiliw.
man and woman and go.3PL
‘Men and women are going.’
In connection with mak IDEF it becomes ‘another’:
Example (2)
Kunum mak so ase.
man IDEF and kill.3SG.m.
‘He killed another man.’
It may also have an instrumental meaning:
Example (3)
Kunum mak nuk on so ase.
man IDEF opossum arrow with kill.3SG.m.
‘A man killed an opossum with an arrow.’

It should be noted, that the usage of so is mostly based on animacy. If the
accompanying argument is animat, both the nucleus and the accompanying argument
would be marked with so. If the accompanying argument is different in animacy
from the nucleus, then only the inanimate will be marked.
6.1.3.Locative kel
This clitic makes a general location definite, and therefore goes regularly with place
names.
Example (1)
Kunum be musun kel une.
man the garden LOC go.3SG.m.
‘The man goes to the new garden.’
Example (2)
Yelimeli Tabubil kel unsiliw.
family Tabubil LOC go.GP.3PL
‘The family went to Tabubil.’
The locative clitic also goes with body parts, making them “definite”, i.e. numerals.
As ordinal numbers they would precede the noun, and as cardinal number they would
follow the noun:
Example (3)
Teiw kel kayow
nine LOC moon
‘eighth month (=August)’
Example (4)
Mian ketket kel teliw.
dog five LOC come.IPC.3PL
‘Five dogs are coming.’
And lastly also goes with temporal phrases:
Example (5)
Emisik ding kel kunum be talse.
First day LOC man DEF.m came.
‘The man came the first day.’

6.1.4.Limiter kuw and gam
The limiter kuw usually has the meaning of exclusivity: ‘only’, and the clitic gam
means ‘also’.
Example (1)
Yatel kuw teliw.
Mother with her children only come.3PL
‘Only the mother and her children come.’
Example (2)
E gam du- -nem -s -e.
3SG.m also give BEN.1SG GP 3SG.m
‘He also gave me (something).’
6.1.5.Partitive ke
The partitive marker.
Example (1)
Ais aol ais ke kunum ke.
tree spirit tree partially man partially
‘A tree spirit is partially tree, partially man.’
6.1.6.Likeness tew
The clitic tew compares two themes: ‘like/alike’. After pronouns it functions as a
suffix.
Example (1)
Kayow ataan telin tew kese.
moon sun come.NZ alike make.GP.3SG.m
‘His coming was like the moon and sun.’
Example (2)
Aol be ais a- -tew.
bush spirit DEF.m tree 3.SG.m alike

6.2.Verbal Phrases
6.2.1.Structure of verbal phrases
The basic structure of verbal phrases is as follows:

µ MP µ ASP + N
In this formula N (nucleus) is the inflected verb and MP the optional preceding
modifying phrase. ASP is an aspectual particle.
Example (1)
Abisom be fian busulina!
door DEF.m big open.PL.IMPV
NP VP
‘Open the door wide!’
As the modifier phrase may modify either the nominal or the verbal phrase, there
will be ambiguities, where there is no article in the nominal phrase. Compare
example (1) and (2).
Example (2)
Abisom fian busulina!
door big open.PL.IMPV
NP VP
NP VP
‘Open the door wide!’ or ‘Open the wide door!’
Example (3)
Kunum be fasel kelaka.
man DEF.m old do.3SG
NP VP
‘The man is old. (Lit: The man makes old.)’
Example (4)
Kunum bi finganin fian sel keliw.
men DEF.PL afraid big big do.PR.2/3PL
NP MP V
NP VP
‘The men are very much afraid.’
Example (5)
Kunum e iti tele.
man 3SG.m again come.PR.3SG.m
NP ASP V
‘The man comes again.’

6.2.2.Serialization
A verbal phrase may have a serial verb construction as head instead of a single verb:
+ N1 + N2
Each element N (nucleus) is a verb word, where N2 is a medial or final verb,
depending on whether the verbal phrase occurs in a medial or a final position. The
first verb N1 is a serial verb. There are three basic structures for serial verbs:
a) + N1 µ BEN + N2
b) + N1 + NOM +N2
c) + N1 + PV
ad a): The serial verb forms, that take just a plain verb root nucleus and a optional
benefactor affix, usually have a purpose meaning. If the verb stem is reduplicated, it
has the meaning of continuous action.
If the serial verb has a root ending with the phoneme -l, then a vowel -u is added to
the verb stem.
Example (1)
Beil okol- -u teliw.
leaves cut come.2./3.PL
‘They/You (PL) come to cut leaves.’
Example (2)
Ok dul- -u tala!
water give/feed come.IMPV.2SG
‘Come to fetch water!’
Example (3)
Ok sen dan unina!
water container fill go.IMPV.2.PL
‘Go (PL) to fill the water container!’
Example (4)
Ok sen dan- -nem unina!
water container fill BEN.1SG go.IMPV.2.PL
‘Go (PL) to fill the water container for me!’
Example (5)
De tal- -a
bring come SG.IMPV
‘Bring (it)! (i.e. ‘in order to bring it, come!’)’

Example (6)
De un- -a
bring go SG.IMPV
‘Take (it) away! (i.e. ‘in order to take it away, go!’)’
Example (7)
De -lew unina!
bring BEN.3.SG.m go.2PL.IMPV
‘You (PL) take it to him! (i.e. ‘go in order to give it to him!’)’
Example (8)
Fut mak debele unsiliw.
book/letter IDEF send go.2/3PL
‘They did send a letter away.’
Example (9)
du -lew du -lew kese.
give BEN.3SG.m give BEN.3SG.m do.GP.3SG.m
‘He kept giving/distributing to him.’
ad b): The serial verb forms, that take a subject suffix, carry the meaning of some
kind of a continuos action.
Example (10)
Felfel be un- -e tel- -∅ -e.
Swallow DEF.m go 3SG.m come PR 3SG.m
‘The swallow comes and goes.’
Example (11)
Ataan so kayow so b -iliw b -iliw -i, …
sun ACP moon ACP be.PR 3PL be.PR 3PL DS
‘Sun and moon were for a long time, …’
ad c): Constructions with a pro-verb. This category is the most common of the
three serial form constructions. There are two verbs that act as pro-verbs: ke- ‘do’
and ang-, ‘do; say’. In their function as pro-verbs, they take all the possible
affixation (depending on their position as medial or final verb), while the
preceding verb does not take any affixation.
Example (12)
Kunum be fingan ke- -s -e
man DEF.m afraid make GP 3SG.m
‘The man was afraid.’

Example (13)
On bat kuse kuse ke- -lew -∅ -e.
arrow plenty shoot shoot do BEN.3SG.m PR 3SG.m
‘He continuously shoots a lot of arrows at him.’
Example (14)
On bat kuse kuse d -ang -s -e.
arrow plenty shoot shoot BEN.3SG.m do FP 3SG.m
‘He continuously shot a lot of arrows at him.’
Example (13) and (14) are a combination of serial construction a) and c).
6.2.3.Pro-Verbs
The verbs ke- ‘do, make’ and ang- ‘say; make, do’, they having a very closely
related general meaning, are very common in extended verbal phrases. The Bimin
lexicon so far has over 50 entries with ke- as nucleus of a verbal phrase. Most of
these ke- nuclei verbal phrases also go with the ang- nucleus, although some verbs
tend to go more with one out of the pair. This is specially true, since the verbal
phrase with ke- tends to suggest a more causative meaning.
Example (1)
Itol alemsal kelaka.
year three do.3SG.m.FOC
‘He is three years old.’
Yol ang- ‘to be surprised/made jump/frightened’ is usually not used with kel-, but
could be, and would then change its meaning to causative:
Example (2)
Aul mian yol angse.
Child dog fright/surprise do.3SG
NP NP VP
‘The child was made to jump by the dog.’
Example (3)
Aul mian yol kese.
Child dog fright/surprise do.3SG
NP NP VP
‘The child made/caused the dog to jump.’

6.3.Peripheral Phrases
6.3.1.Modifier Phrases
Modifier phrases function as a modifier in the nominal phrase or the verbal phrase. It
may also function on its own in a verbless clause.
6.3.1.1.Simple Modifier Phrase
A modifier phrase has the following structure:

+ N µ INTS
Intensifiers (INTS) are a group formed of three clitic elements:
kuw
nam
ete
The clitic kuw and nam (ngam in the southern dialect) are by far more common than
ete. For Bimin speakers, there does not seem to be a strict rule whether kuw or nam
or ete is used with a particular modifier. Some are just more commonly used together
than others.
Example (1)
kitil nam
strong INTS
‘very strong’
Example (2)
kitil kuw
strong INTS
‘very strong’
Example (3)
kitil ete
strong INTS
‘very strong’
All three of the above examples with kitil, ‘strong’ plus intensifier are correct. But
Example (1) is the most common. Other modifiers like wa, ‘bad’ are more commonly
used with nam, and only seldom with kuw and even more sparingly with ete.
Example (4)
wa sel nam
bad INTS INTS
‘very, very bad’
An example where ete is the most common follows here:

Example (5)
abal ete
good tasting INTS
‘very good tasting’
Second choice with abal, ‘good tasting’ after ete would be nam, followed by kuw.
To really mark something as e.g. very, very strong, one can also add up to two (or
more) intensifiers in an modifier phrase:
Example (6)
kitil nam ete
strong INTS INTS
‘very, very strong’
There are two very commonly used modifiers that often form some sort of a
“serialization for adj”: fong, ‘small’ and fian, ‘big’. Each of these two can stand as a
full adj by itself – or can take a “double”: for fong, it would be gel and for fian, sel.
In addition, both sel and gel can take a reduplication to describe something even
tinier or bigger respectively: gel gelgel and sel sesel.
Example (7)
kunum fong gel ‘a very small man’
kunum fian sel ‘a very big man’
kunum fong gel kuw ‘a very, very small man’
kunum fian sel kuw ‘a very, very big man’
kunum gel ‘a small man’
kunum sel ‘a big man’
kunum gelgel ‘a tiny man’
kunum sesel ‘a huge man’
kunum fong gelgel ‘a very tiny man’
kunum fian sesel ‘a very huge man’
The theoretical possibility for the maximum extension for fian and fong haven’t
been observed yet.
Example (8)
kunum fian sesel kuw
man big INTS INTS
‘A very, very, very big man. (Goliath ☺)’

6.3.1.2.Coordinated modifier phrases
Two of the conjunctions mentioned in the chapter 6.7 ‘Conjunctions’ are used to
coordinate modifier clauses: meni, ‘or’ and kate, ‘but’. The clitic so, ‘and, with’ is
also used as a conjunction. The structure is as follows:
+ MP + cj µ MP …. µ cj + MP (+ so)
There does not seem to be a grammatical limit to the possible number of coordinated
MP. If the last modifier phrase is coordinated with the clitic so, ‘ACP’, then it has to
have the clitic so, ‘ACP’ coming again after the last modifier phrase.
Example (1)
Kut mian kitil so, fian so, atul nam so mak
bush dog strong ACP big ACP hot INTS ACP IDEF
‘A strong, big, and very wild bush dog.’
Example (2)
Aul gelgel meni fian so kitil so
children small.INTS or big ACP strong ACP
‘Very small or big and strong children’
6.3.2.Numeral Phrases
The Bimin language uses body parts for numbers. The clitic kel, ‘LOC’ has to be
added to get the corresponding number. The numeral phrase functions as a modifier
within the nominal phrase.
Starting with the left hand thumb auk following the four fingers on the left hand side
until reaching the right hand’s little finger (ketket mali). The Bimin numeral system
works on a 27 base.

Left Hand Side thumb auk 1
index auk teben 2
middle finger yemamas 3
ring finger ketket teben 4
little finger ketket 5
wrist gung 6
forearm ben 7
elbow’s inner side duan 8
upper arm teiw 9
shoulder king 10
side of neck guel 11
ear kalun 12
eye kiin 13
Middle nose mutum 14
Right Hand Side eye kiin mali 15
ear kalun mali 16
side of the neck guel mali 17
shoulder king mali 18
upper arm teiw mali 19
elbow’s inner side duan mali 20
forearm ben mali 21
wrist gung mali 22
thumb auk mali 23
index auk teben mali 24
middle finger yemamas mali 25
ring finger ketket teben mali 26
little finger ketket mali 27
The noun mali means ‘the other half’. Thus a literal translation of ‘15’ kiin mali
would be ‘the eye of the other half’. That same result could also be expressed with a
possessive phrase, including the 3SG.m possessive pronoun em: ‘other half side’s
eye’, mali em kiin.
A complete 27 base is called fu deng deng. Theoretically one could say today’s year
1997, as follows:

Example (1)
fu deng alew so meli em teiw so fu deng so auk teben mali so
(27 two and 19 and) 27 and 26
Of course, such a number is ridiculously complicated. Making the transfer from a 27
base system to the decimal system isn’t really a natural one either. Nevertheless: It is
possible to express basically any number one needs. Today at least the numbers 1
through 20 are still in use, although quite a few of the younger boys definitively do
not feel comfortable using these numbers beyond maybe 10 or so. That might just
change again in the future, as one of the subjects in the BVPS (Bimin Vernacular
Prep-Schools) that started in 1996 is counting from 1 to 27 – and this skill is proudly
being shown off by the students. ☺
All these numerals are only used in counting and adding. Taken as an ordinal
number, e.g. August, which is the 8th month of the year, the case marker kel, ‘LOC’
is again added.
If it is a cardinal number the numeral phrase comes after the noun, whereas with an
ordinal number, the numeral phrase precedes the noun:
Example (2)
mian king kel teliw.
dog ten LOC come.2/3PL
‘Ten dogs come.’
Example (3)
Duan kel kayow iti tolokoluw.
eight LOC moon again come.FUT.1PL.
‘We will come again in August.’
There is also the option to express the numbers 1, 2, 4, and 5, in a different way,
when giving the number for something:
makmak ‘one’
alew ‘two’
alew(i)alew ‘four’ (i.e. ‘two-two’)
teing ‘five’ (i.e. ‘hand’)
Example (4)
Kunum makmak talaka.
man one come.3SG.
‘One man comes.’
Example (5)
Kunum alew(i)alew teliw.
man four come.3PL.
‘Four men are coming.’

Example (6)
Teing kunum unbiliw.
hand man go.IPC.3PL
‘Five men are going.’
The last example (6) shows a different word order. The reason being, that teing
‘hand’ is here obviously semantically used as a numeral, while grammatically still
remains a noun, qualifying the head noun kunum. For further discussion of genitive
constructions, cp. the chapter 7.1 Nominal Phrases.
6.3.3.Temporal Phrases
Temporal phrases function as modifiers in the clause structure. The unmarked

position for temporal phrases is clause, or even sentence, initially. Again “kel”, the
static particle, marks a certain time more specifically.
Their basic structure is as follows:
+ N µ kel
where kel again is the case marker for locative, temporal and numeral.
The nucleus of a temporal phrase can be one of three things:
1. a temporal particle (soa, ‘before’, sow, ‘later’ etc.)
2. a nominal phrase, including some kind of a time noun, e.g. ding,
‘day’, dim, ‘time’, itol, ‘year’ etc.
3. a clause
Example (1)
Sin mian kaing ase.
yesterday dog pig kill.GP.3SG.m
‘Yesterday a dog killed a pig.’
Example (2)
Sin kel, mian kaing ase.
yesterday LOC dog pig kill.GP.3SG.m
‘Yesterday a dog killed a pig. (i.e. It was yesterday, not e.g. the day before it!)’
Compare example (1) with example (2). Example (2) has slightly more emphasis on
sin, ‘yesterday’ than example (1); but the construction including kel is very common
and does not justify an interpretation for kel as a regular emphasis marker.
Example (3)
Kuane ding dim kel aul dukusu.
die.3SG.m day time LOC child bear.GP.f
‘She had a baby when she died.’

Example (4)
Kel ding mak unsu.
LOC day IDEF go.GP.3SG.f
‘She went on a certain day.’
The reason for the fronting of kel in example (4) is not known at present. It seems to
have discourse level function. cf. chapter 10.2 Fronting.

7. Clauses
7.1.Verbal Clauses
Bimin is a SOV language. A correct Bimin sentence always follows this structure,
unless the object of a clause/sentence needs to be put into a marked position. That
situation given, there is also the possibility of clauses with OSV. Where the object is
emphasized like that, the context has to convey the intention of the speaker. That is
true for most cases. Where necessary, or where the speaker likes it for clarifying
reasons, there is the possibility to include an object pronoun, with the suffix -lo,
‘ACC’ immediately after the object nominal phrase.
The basic structure of a simple clause is as follows:
µ TP µ LP µ NPS µ NPO µ NPIO µ NPACP + VP
Temporal Phrases and Locative Phrases may also occur immediately preceding the
verb. cf. chapter 10.2 Fronting.
All these arguments would not normally occur in the same clause, but they could.
A verbal clause may be either medial or final. The verbal inflection would say which
function it would have in the sentence.
Example (1)
Sin e, Sombit kel e, fian kunum be, e
yesterday 3SG.m, Sombit LOC 3SG.m, big man DEF.m 3SG.m
TP LP NPS1 NPS1
weng_kal mak eso uso ilo bontem fian so

announcement IDEF 3DL.m 3DL.f ACC.PL mouth big ACC
NPO NPIO NPACP
bokoyemse.
say.BEN.2/3PL.GP.3SG.m
V
‘Yesterday in Sombit, the Bigman said an announcement to him and her with a
loud voice.’
Example (2)
Neso yu so nu alikum Tabubul kel unokoluw.
1DL 2/3PL ACP 1PL all Tabubil LOC go.FUT.1SG
‘We two and you (PL), we will all go to Tabubil.’
Example (3)
Musun kel unsuluw -kale.
garden LOC go.GP.1PL -PFCT
‘We did go to the garden.’

Example (4)
Kunum Fian ais dukuse.
God tree(s) put.GP.3SG.m
S O V
‘God put the tree(s).’
Example (5)
Ais Kunum Fian dukuse.
tree(s) God put.GP.3SG.m
O S V
‘The tree(s): God put (them/it).’
Example (6)
Ais ilo Kunum Fian dukuse.
tree(s) ACC.3PL God put.GP.3SG
O.NP S.NP VP
‘The trees: God put them.’
Example (7)
Kunum Fian ais ilo dukuse.
God tree(s) ACC.3PL put.GP.3SG
S.NP O.NP VP
‘God put the trees.’
Example (8)
Ais be elo Kunum Fian dukuse.
Tree DEF.m ACC.3SG God put.GP.3SG
O.NP S.NP VP
‘This tree: God put it.’
Example (9)
Weng_kal ayem sel mak i- -lo bokoyemse.
announcement forbidden big IDEF 2/3PL ACC say.BEN.PL.GP.3SG.m
‘He gave them a very important announcement.’
Example (10)
Weng be kunum so waneng so alik alik
talk DEF.m man ACP woman ACP all all
ACC.NP BEN.NP
bi i -lo yem- boko- -yem -s -uluw.

DEF.PL 2/3PL ACC ACC.PL say BEN.PL GP 1PL
VP
‘We said this talk to all the men and women.’

Example (11)
Bokol -a!
say IMPV.2SG
‘Speak!’
Even though there are intransitive, transitive and bitransitive verbs, there does not
seem to be any need to set up three different kind of clause types as even a clause
with a bitransitive verb may have only a overt subject and sometimes not even that.
An intransitive verb may have a locative phrase that looks like an object.
Example (12)
Du- -um -s -e
give BEN.3SG.f GP 3SG.m
‘He gave (it) to her.’
Example (13)
Am unika.
house go.1SG.FOC
‘I go home (now).’
7.2.Non-Verbal Clauses
Bimin has at least three kinds of non-verbal clause:
descriptive stative clause
possessive clause
negative clause
Locative and equative “stative” clauses are verbal clauses.
7.2.1.Descriptive Clauses
+ NPS µ NPpr + MP
The MP is obligatory marked with the focus clitic te.
Example (1)
Kunum be fian te.
man DEF.m big FOC
‘The man is big.’
Example (2)
Kunum be e fian te.
man DEF.m 3SG.m big FOC
‘The man is big.’

Example (3)
Kut mian kitil so atul nam so te.
bush dog strong ACP hot INTS ACP FOC
‘Wild dogs are strong and very hot/wild.’
7.2.2.Possessive Clauses
+ NPS + POSSpr + NP
The last NP is obligatory marked with the focus clitic te.
Example (1)
Kunum be em mian te.
man DEF.m POSS:3.SG.m dog FOC
‘The dog belongs to the man.’
Example (2)
Kukuyemin aul gelgel alik im wanin te.
teach child(ren) small.INTS all POSS.PL food FOC
‘The food belongs to the very small school children.’
7.2.3.Negative Clauses
There are two different negative constructions: The simple negative clauses, and the
prohibitive clauses.
7.2.3.1.Simple Negative
The simple negative has the following structure:

µ NPS + VPNZ +NEG µ PV
If tense and/or aspect need to be expressed, then one of the pro-verbs (ke-, ‘do,
make’ or ang- ‘say/do’) is added that takes all the necessary markers.
Example (1)
Kunum banban tel- -in ba.
man plenty come NZ NEG
‘Plenty men do not come.’
Example (2)
Ne kal kel- -in ba kesi.
1SG knowledge do NZ NEG do.GP.1SG
NPS VP NEG PV
‘I did not know.’

Example (3)
Ne kal kelew -in ba kesi.
1SG knowledge do BEN.3SG NZ NEG do.GP.1SG
NPS VP NEG PV
‘I did not know it.’
Example (4)
Am un- -in ba.
House go NZ NEG
‘… does/do not go home.’
Example (5)
Am un- -in ba ke- -s -iliw
house go NZ NEG do GP 2./3.PL
‘They/You (PL) did not go home.’
Example (6)
Am un- -in ba ke- -s -iliw tako.
house go NZ NEG do GP 2./3.PL OPT
‘They/You (PL) wished that they had not gone home.’
7.2.3.2.Prohibitive Negative
The prohibitive negative has a modifying particle nam, ‘PNEG’, which precedes the
head verb:
µ PER + PNEG + VP
Example (1)
Nam kula!
PNEG take.IMPV.2SG
‘You cannot take (it)!’
Example (2)
Ais dem wanew kasike, kawin dim kale nam kakamew.
fruit eat.2.SG therefore ground here NEG stroll.DUR.2.SG
‘You (SG) ate the fruit and therefore, you cannot stroll around on this land/ground
anymore.’
Phrases are not negated, but an antonym is used:
Example (3)
Kunum kitil talbe. Kunum beit talbe.
man strong come.IPC.3SG.m man weak come.IPC.3SG.m
‘A strong man is coming.’ ‘A weak man is coming.’

Example (4)
yemen wa yemen ken
taro bad taro good
‘bad taro’ ‘good taro’
7.3.Relative Clauses
The relative clause in Bimin is not expressed with a particular relative particle, but
rather with the re-statement of the ruling noun. The subject and the object can be
relativized. More peripheral arguments cannot be relativized. The basic structure is
the following:
REL.CL + N
The relative clause is a normal final verb clause. It may take all the arguments of
such a clause and all the affixation that a final verb takes. The relative clause may
also be a descriptive clause or a nominal phrase.
Example (1)
Kunum finik wa so kunum talaka.
man1 spirit bad ACP man1 come.3.SG.m
‘The man who has a bad spirit comes.’
This example is opposed to what would be the simple clause:
Example (2)
Kunum finik wa so talaka.
man spirit bad ACP come.3.SG.m
‘The man with a bad spirit comes.’
Example (3)
Soa e, kunum auk so kunum be fon unse.
Before 3SG.m man1 power ACP man1 DEF.m flee go.GP.3SG.m
‘Before, the man who had power fled.’
Example (4)
Kunum mak e fut ken mak dunemselew
man IDEF 3SG.m book1 good IDEF give.BEN.1SG.GP.2SG
S O
fut be iti yekut kese.

book1 DEF.m again steal do.GP.3SG.m
MP V
‘A man again stole the book from me, which you had given me.’
Even though relative clauses are used in the Bimin language, they are not all that
common, and when used, give additional emphasis to the head noun.

8. Sentences
8.1.Clause Chaining with Switch Reference

As mentioned earlier, Bimin has a system of four kinds of switch reference that are
attached as suffixes to the medial verb. The basic structure of a chain of clauses
forming a sentence is as follows:
µ MC … µ MC + MC + FC
There does not seem to be a grammatical limit to the number of MC lined up before
the FC.
These are the four switch reference possibilities in Bimin: SEQ.SS, SEQ.DS,
NSEQ.SS, and NSEQ.DS. Their respective structure is as follows:
SEQ.DS: N + TNS + NOM + DS

SEQ.SS: N + SS.SEQ
NSEQ.DS: N + TNS + NSEQ + NOM + DS
NSEQ.SS: N + NSEQ
DS -i
SS.SEQ -(e)ko
NSEQ -om
ad DS: The only possible TNS.SF are the three “general tense suffices” -s (for past
tense), -ok(o) (for future tense), and -∅ (for present tense).
ad SS: The vowel in parenthesis -(e)ko is optional as it drops if a preceding open
syllable is joined with the SS marker. In some cases the -e is also dropped in
preceding closed syllables to indicate a closer connection between the two adjoining
clauses.
ad SEQ versus NSEQ: Sequential construction are the unmarked forms, and do not
take any affix, while the non-sequential forms need to be marked with the suffix -om.
The sequential constructions are the unmarked forms and do no take any affixation
for this aspect, while the non-sequential constructions are always marked with the
suffix -om. The sequential same subject suffix has the form -(e)ko. Different subject
is marked with a -i word final.
Example (1)
Mian sel be tel -e -i,
dog big DEF.m come 3SG.m DS
e fongate fon un- -s -e.

he quickly flee go GP 3SG.m
‘The big dog1 came, and then he2 quickly fled.’

Example (2)
Mian sel be tel- -eko, fongate fon un- -s -e.
dog big DEF.m come SEQ.SS, quickly flee go GP 3SG.m
‘The big dog1 came, and then he1 quickly fled.’
Example (3)
Ding dim fen- s -om -eliw -i,
day time search GP NSEQ 2/3PL DS
e tal- -s -e -kale.
3SG.m come GP 3SG.m PFCT
‘They/You (PL) waited while/until he came.’
Example (4)
Ding dim fen- -s -om -eliw -i,
day time search GP NSEQ 2/3PL DS
i tal- -s -iliw -kale.

they come GP 2/3PL PFCT
‘They1 waited while/until they2 came.’
The reference Bimin switch reference is pointing at, is always to next following
clause, and same subject (SS) means exactly the same subject in person and number.
Example (5)
Kunum mak tel- -eko nukalem kukuw wa atem- -om,
Man IDEF come SEQ.SS our behavior bad see NSEQ
gaan- -e -i, ne kilil- -i -i,

shout 3SG.m DS 1SG hear 1SG DS
alik nu fon un- -s -uluw.

all we flee go GP 1PL
‘A man came and watched our bad behavior and he shouted and I heard and then
we all fled.’
8.2.Minor Sentence Types
8.2.1.Reason and Result
This sentence type is marked with the conjunction kasike ‘therefore’. The
conjunction occurs always at the end of the reason. But the reason may precede or
follow the result. It is more common for the reason to precede the result, as in most
Papuan languages.

Example (1)
Ais dem wanew kasike, kawin dim kale nam kakamew.
fruit eat.2SG therefore ground here PNEG stroll.2SG
‘You (SG) ate the fruit and therefore, you cannot stroll around on this land/ground
anymore.’
Example (2)
Ka kel unse kasike, kame, kuanoke.
there LOC go.GP3SG.m therefore now die.FUT.3SG.m
‘He went there and therefore, now, he will die.’
Example (3)
Weng mak bokonembelew kasike, am unika.
talk IDEF say.BEN.1SG.IPC.2.SG therefore house go.1.SG.FOC
‘You are saying (that) to me and therefore I (now) go home.’
Example (4)
E kiin wa kelewko, kile atemin ba
he eye bad do.BEN.3SG.m.SEQ.SS clear see.NZ NEG
kebom kasike.
do.NSEQ.SS therefore
‘He didn’t see clear because his eyes were bad.’
8.2.2.Conditional
Conditional is marked with the clitic tewe on the final verb of the protasis. Following
is the structure of this final verb:
µ ACC + N µ BEN µ ASP µ TNS + NOM + COND
Note that the tense suffix in the protasis can only be either present or future. If the
statement in the protasis takes place somewhere in the past, a temporal modifier
needs to indicate that, but the verb itself does not take any past marker; cp. Example
(3). The sentence final verb in the apodosis just follows the normal rules of a final
verb.
Example (1)
Afam waneng makso kulokolew tewe, keisuw keloki.
second wives another marry.FUT.2SG COND be furious.FUT.1SG
‘If you will marry another wife, I will be furious.’
Example (2)
Ku ais dem be wanew tewe, atin kuw kuanokolew.
you fruit DEF.m eat.2SG COND totally die.FUT.2SG
‘If you ate that fruit (now), you would die.’

Example (3)
Soa e kuane tewe, kame ilum nam kulu tako.
before 3SG.m die.3SG.m COND now heavy PNEG take.3SG.f OPT
‘If he had died before, I would have thought that she would not have gotten the
heavy now.’
Example (4)
Soa e kuane tewe, kame ilum nam kulu sako.
before 3SG.m die.3SG.m COND now heavy PNEG take.3SG.f TNT
‘If he had died before, she might not have gotten the heavy now.’
As Example (3) and (4) show, there is a way to mark uncertainty in the apodosis with
the modal clitic tako, ‘OPT’ and sako, ‘TNT’.
8.2.3.Contrast
To make a contrastive connection between two clauses, the conjunction kate, ‘but’ is
used. In this function, kate is always between the two contrastive clauses.
+ CL + kate + CL
A contrastive sentence cannot have more than two clauses connected with kate,
‘but’.
Example (1)
Kunum bi teliw kate, waneng tel- -in -ba.
men DEF.PL come.2/3PL but women come NZ NEG
‘The men come but the women don’t come.’
Example (2)
Waneng bu kulew kate, nanew kunum em kalel te.
woman DEF.f marry.2SG but another man his wife FOC
‘You (SG) marry this woman, but she is another man’s wife.’
8.2.4.Direct and Indirect Speech
8.2.4.1.Direct Speech
For this type of sentence, Bimin uses a structure with three parts:
a) Speech initiating clause (optional)
b) The actual speech
c) Speech closing clause (optional, but used most of the times.)
Part a) is always a verb within the semantic field of saying and thinking. Possible
verbs would be:

bokol- say
dakala- ask
(ibolow) fukun- think
ang- say/do
By far the most common of these speech initiating verbs is the first one, bokol- ‘say’.
The form of these speech opening verb is as follows:
+ N µ BEN + NSEQ µ NOM µ DS
As can be seen, this is a medial verb form. That means that switch reference has to
be taken into account. The (last) clause of the quote is a final verb, as is the verb in
the speech closing quote. The structure of direct speech then is:
µ MC + “FC (… µ FC)” µ FC
At this stage I do not know, why the medial verb form is used. Nor do I know why
some of these forms are marked with different subject.
The paradigm of the subject suffixes is the normal (set 1) one, but for the first, and
the two third singular forms. These three forms expand one vowel e- preceding the
normal endings.
Set 1 Speech
SG PL SG PL
1. -(l)i -uluw -eli -uluw
2. -(e)lew -eliw -elew -eliw
3.m -(l)e -eliw -ele -eliw
3.f -(l)u -eliw -elu -eliw
Example (1)
bokol- -nem -om -ele:
say BEN.1SG NSEQ 3SG.m
‘he said to me: ’
Example (2)
E boko-lew-om-ele-i: “Ne kal kelin ba te!”.
3SG.m say-BEN.3SG.m-NSEQ-3SG.m-DS 1SG know do.NZ NEG FOC
‘He said to him: “I do not know.”.
Example (3)
dakalal- -om -eliw
ask NSEQ 2/3PL
‘they/You (PL) asked: ’
The direct speech itself follows normal Bimin sentence rules, and is usually closed
by the speech closing clause. This clause is formed by only one verb ang- ‘say/do’
which could within limits be extended to a short clause with all, or any one or two of
the three main participants: subject, object, and indirect object of the sentence.

Example (4)
E bokol -ew -om -ele: “Bayo!”,
he say BEN.3.SG.m NSEQ 3.SG.m no
d- -ang- -∅ -e.
ACC.3.SG say/do PR 3.SG
‘He says to him: “No!”, he says to him.
Example (5)
alew elo d- -ang- -∅ -e.
father ACC.3SG.m ACC.3.SG say/do PR 3.SG
‘He says to him: “No!”, he says to his father.’
Example (6)
alew d- -ang- -∅ -e.
father ACC.3SG say/do PR 3.SG.m
‘He says to him: “No!”, his father says to him.’
8.2.4.2.Indirect Speech
Indirect speech is marked with the clitic kale, which comes after the repetition of the
direct speech that wants to be related. This repetition has the same form as the
original. It only works with short phrases and interjections.
Example (1)
SP1: “Belew_yak_o!” SP2: ∅ SP3: “Belew_yak_o kale!”
SP1: Hi(SG) SP2: ∅ SP3: Hi(SG) IDS
‘ Person 1 to Person 2: “Hi!”, but person 2 does not hear it. Person 3 to person 1:
“He said ‘Hi!’” ’
Example (2)
“Weso kale!”
thank_you IDS
‘He said “thank you”!’
8.2.5.Complementation
The complementation is constructed by nominalization. The complement clause is

nominalized, and functions as an object in the main clause. Sometimes the medial
non-sequential morpheme -om precedes the nominalizer. Also, the complement
clause may sometimes be compounded with a more general noun like in example
(2) and (3).

Example (1)
Awon be em iti un-om -in atemsu.
bird DEF.m POSS.3SG.m again go.NSEQ NZ see.GP.3SG.f
‘Wensi saw the bird flying away again.’
Example (2)
Nukalem tel -in ba weng bokoyembiliw.
POSS.1PL come NZ NEG talk say.BEN.PL.IPC.2/3PL
‘He told them that we would not come. (Lit: ‘He told them the story of our not
coming.’)’
Example (3)
E Kunum_Fian em kukuw ken
3SG.m God POSS.3SG.m behavior good
kel-om -in sawa fukunse.

do.NSEQ NZ law think.GP.3SG.m
‘He thought of God’s law, that (e.g. we) should do good.’
If the complement clause gets more elaborate, nominalization may not be used:
Example (4)
E bokolewomele: “Alew e
3SG.m say.BEN.3SG.m.NSEQ.3SG.m his_father 3SG.m
bokolomele: ‘Nam kulina!’, angse

say.NSEQ.3SG.m PNEG take.2PL.IMPV say.GP.3SG.m
kasike, kame, kola!”, dangse.

therefore now leave.2SG.IMPV ACC.3SG.m.say.GP.3SG.m
He said to him: “His father had said: ‘Do (PL) not take (it)!’, and therefore, now,
leave it!”

9. Discourse Observations
9.1.Tail-Head Linkage
This construction is very common in all narrative texts. It is best translated as ‘thus’.
This construction connects sentences.
Example (1)
Deiw mak ding mak, kunum mak kut am unsekale.
day IDEF time IDEF man IDEF bush house go.GP.3SG.PFCT
Uneko, teleko, ka kel akalsekale….

go.SEQ.SS come.SEQ.SS there LOC be.PST.GP.3SG.PFCT
‘Once upon a time, a man went to (his) bush house. Thus he came and stayed
there.’
9.2.Fronting (of Locative, Object and Temporal Phrases)

Temporal phrases usually have the first slot in a sentence/clause structure. They
occur at the beginning of a new time setting within a discourse. In some instances the
temporal phrase does not occur at the start of a sentence, but rather has its place
immediately preceding the verb. In these cases temporal phrases do function within
the sentence/clause and have no function on discourse level.
Example (1)
Soa kel, kilkemin awon alenalekale.
before LOC creator bird be.PST.PFCT
‘Before there was the creator bird.’
Example (2)
Ne sowete unoki.
1SG later go.FUT.1SG
‘I will go later.’
The same also applies for locative phrases: Locative phrases preceding the subject of
a sentence have their function within a discourse, and mark a new place setting.
Much more often than temporal phrases, locative phrases occur immediately
preceding the verb. They then function on clause/sentence level.
Example (3)
Bim am kale, kunum mak talse.
Bim house here man IDEF come.GP.3SG.m
‘A man came here to the Bim region.’

Example (4)
Kunum mak kale talse.
man IDEF here com.GP.3SG.
‘A man came here.’
As mentioned in chapter 8.1 Verbal Clause, the object can occasionally precede the
subject, and is then emphasized.
Example (5)
Kunum Fian ais dukuse.
God tree(s) put.GP.3SG.m
S O V
‘God put the tree(s).’
Example (6)
Ais Kunum Fian dukuse.
tree(s) God put.GP.3SG.m
O S V
‘The tree(s): God put (them/it).’
9.3.Optional Pronoun on Clause Level

These optional pronouns on clause (and sentence) level help keep track of the
participants within a larger discourse. It re-sets the topic of a discourse.
Optional pronoun copy is also common, marking phrases functioning as subject and
object, but also in locative and temporal phrases.
Example (1)
Yesus e talum.
Jesus 3SG.m bridge.
‘Jesus is the bridge.’
Example (2)
Waneng u kusu.
Woman 3SG.f took.(it)
‘The woman took (it).’
Example (3)
kawtiw i wanbiliw.
people 2/3PL eat
‘People are eating.’

Example (4)
Sin e, Sombit kel e, fian kunum be, e
yesterday 3SG.m, Sombit LOC 3SG.m, big man DEF.m 3SG.m
TP LP NPS1 NPS1
weng_kal mak eso uso ilo bontem fian so

announcement IDEF 3DL.m 3DL.f ACC.PL mouth big ACC
NPO NPIO NPACP
bokoyemse.
say.BEN.2/3PL.GP.3SG.m
VP
‘Yesterday in Sombit, the Bigman said an announcement to him and her with a
loud voice.’
9.4.Focus te
This clitic is obligatory in verbless clauses, but appears “optional” in other clauses.
As it then marks some kind of focus, it belongs to the discourse level, although its
function is not fully understood at present.
Example (1)
Yemen soul so be diw wanin ba
Taro sweet potato ACP DEF.m together eat.NZ NEG
kemaluw te.
make.1PL FOC
‘Together (e.g. husband & wife), we did not eat the taro and the sweet potatoes.’

10.Residue
10.1.Demonstratives (cf. 4.2.3)

The two diagrams given in 4.2.3 Structure of Demonstratives, each have two
possibilities for roots meaning visible and not-visible. Unto the date of the write up
of this paper it was not possible to accurately define the difference between each of
these doubled up sets. e.g.
kanis ? kamnis
minel ? manel
kayak ? kabyak
minyak ? mayak
10.2.Incomplete Vowel Harmony

Every now and again the Bimin morphology shows evidence of some kind of vowel
harmony. Especially morphemes with the letter <l> intervocally, seem to suggest a
kind of vowel harmony (cf. the verbal affixes). Nevertheless as per today, a general
rule couldn’t be found and stated.
10.3.Medial Verb Forms in Speech and Complementation

At present I do not know, why the medial verb form is used with speech and
complementation.
Example (1)
E boko-lew-om-ele-i: “Ne kal kelin ba te!”.
3SG.m say-BEN.3SG.m-NSEQ-3SG.m-DS 1SG know do.NZ NEG FOC
‘He said to him: “I do not know.”.

11. Sample Interlinearized Text
\ref Ataan so Kayow so 001
\t Ne kame, ataan so kayow so em sang mak
\m ne kame ataan so kayow so em sang mak
\g I today/now sun ACP moon ACP 3SG.POSS story IDEF
\p pr avt n pa n pa pron n pa
\t bokolomin kanemin tako

\m bokol -om -in kan -m -in tako
\g say -NSEQ -NZ happen -DUR -NZ OPT
\p vt -vinfl -vinfl pr -vinfl -vinfl pa
\f I now want to tell the story of the sun and the moon.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Soa e, kayow so ataan so alenaliwkale.
\m soa e kayow so ataan so a -ena -liw -
kale
\g spec.pandanus 3SG.m moon ACP sun ACP be+PST -DUR -2/3PL -
PFCT
\p n pron n pa n pa v -vinfl -vinfl -
vinfl
\f Sun and moon have been before.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Beliw beliwi, mak kunum mak
\m b -eliw b -eliw -i mak kunum mak
\g be+PR -2/3PL be+PR -2/3PL -DS IDEF man IDEF
\p vs -vinfl vs -vinfl -vinfl pa n pa
\t unsekale.
\m un -s -e -kale
\g go -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f They had been for a long time, when a man came.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Ataan atemin ba unsekale.
\m ataan atem -in ba un -s -e -kale
\g sun look -NZ no go -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p n vt -vinfl pa vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f He went and had not seen the sun.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Deiwkim gui unbele unbele, amgu tikin
mak
\m deiwkim gui un -b -ele un -b -ele amgu tikin
mak
\g game_path noisy go -IPC -3SG.m go -IPC -3SG.m mountain_top
IDEF
\p n avql vi -vinfl -vinfl vi -vinfl -vinfl n pa
\t em wiin e Temben Tikin kel unomete,

mitem
\m em wiin e Temben tikin kel un -om -e -te
mitem
\g 3SG.POSS name 3SG.m Temben above LOC go -NSEQ -3SG.m -FOC
above
\p pron n pron n dem pa vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl dem
\t unomete, am mak be angomi,

\m un -om -e -te am mak be ang -om -i
\g go -NSEQ -3SG.m -FOC house IDEF DEF.m do -NSEQ -DS
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl/proninfl n pa pa vi -vinfl -
vinfl
\t am be ateme te.
\m am be atem -e -te
\g house DEF.m look -3SG.m -FOC
\p n pa vt -vinfl -vinfl/proninfl
\f He walked openly on a game path and walked to the top of a mountain called Temben
Tikin, and going up there, he saw a house being there.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Am kunum be kut une keembe.
\m am kunum be kut un -e ke -m -b -e
\g house man DEF.m bush go -3SG.m do -DUR -IPC -3SG.m
\p n n pa n vi -vinfl vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f The man of the house had just gone out for a while.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Yal aiko, kut une keembe.
\m yal ail -eko kut un -e ke -m -b -e
\g door close -SS bush go -3SG.m do -DUR -IPC -3SG.m
\p n vi -vinfl n vi -vinfl vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f He had shut the door, and had gone for a while.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Angomi, e teineko, alsekale.
\m ang -om -i e tein -eko a -s -e -
kale
\g do -NSEQ -DS 3SG.m sit_down -SEQ.SS be+PST -GP -3SG.m -
PFCT
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl pron vi -vinfl v -vinfl -vinfl -
vinfl
\f Thus he (= the man that came up to the house) sat down.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t E teineko, yaka mot kakmit bukuw kakmit
\m e tein -eko yaka mot kakmit bukuw kakmit
\g 3SG.m sit_down -SEQ.SS elsewhere pitpit root spec.grass root
\p pron vi -vinfl dem n n n n
\t mineng wokmo alsekale.

\m mineng wokmo a -s -e -kale
\g not_too_far_away hide be+PST -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p dem vi v -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl

\f He sat there not too far away (from the house), hidden away by some roots of pitpit and a
kind of grass called "bukup".
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Teinbele bele, aneng kuine dim ete,
mak
\m tein -b -ele b -ele aneng kuine dim ete
mak
\g sit_down -IPC -3SG.m be+PR -3SG.m place afternoon time there
IDEF
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl vs -vinfl n n n pron pa
\t tem guin guin angomete, nis

\m tem guin guin ang -om -e -te nis
\g above foot_steps foot_steps do -NSEQ -3SG.m -FOC
up_there
\p dem n n vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl/proninfl dem
\t mak giling giling manel tele te:

\m mak giling giling manel tal -e -te
\g IDEF exhausted exhausted close_down_here come -3SG.m -FOC
\p pa mo mo dem vi -vinfl -
vinfl/proninfl
\t Kunum sel mak kak tukul aliw sel mak okil mak
kataktem
\m kunum sel mak kak tukul aliw sel mak okil mak
kataktem
\g man big IDEF bald kind_of big IDEF wild_fowel IDEF
neck_hanging
\p n mo pa n pa mo pa n pa mo
\t kolewsomelei, am
\m ko -lew -s -om -ele -i am
\g leave -BEN.3SG.m -GP -NSEQ -3SG.m -DS house
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl n
\t talsekale.
\m tal -s -e -kale
\g come -GP -3SG.m -PFCT

\f He sat there for a long time, and when it became evening, there was the noise of
exhausted footsteps coming slowely up and closer: A big man with a real big bold head, with
a fowel hanging around his neck coming to the house.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Abin matem baku ais mongom sel mak kingti
\m abin matem bak -u ais mongom sel mak kingti
\g floor specific_place Bak -3SG.f wood stem big IDEF
shoulder_carring
\p n n n -vinfl n n mo pa vi
\t talsekale.
\m tal -s -e -kale
\g come -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\f He came and fell down on the floor, exhusted from carrying a big tree on his shoulders.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Ka ais mongom gilu duku kolewsomelei,
men
\m ka ais mongom gilu duku kolew -s -om -ele -i
men
\g there wood stem noise put leave -GP -NSEQ -3SG.m -DS
bilum
\p dem n n n vt vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl n
\t mak kuw dokong duku kolewsomelei, kamneng

\m mak kuw dokong duku kolew -s -om -ele -i kamneng
\g IDEF only take_off put leave -GP -NSEQ -3SG.m -DS
on_the_side
\p pa pa vt vt vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl dem
\t alote fit tok mak kuw fit malak ais mak kuw
kawtol
\m alote fit tok mak kuw fit malak ais mak kuw
kawtol
\g hither pull stone_axe IDEF only pull down_here wood IDEF only
broken
\p dem vt n pa pa vt dem n pa pa mo

\t kawtol danei, ais filel sel mak bakas
uneko,
\m kawtol dan -e -i ais filel sel mak bakas un -
eko
\g broken chopp -3SG.m -DS wood chip big IDEF piece_of_wood go -
SEQ.SS
\p mo vt -vinfl -vinfl n n mo pa n vi -
vinfl
\t mineng kunum wokmobe em mit

\m mineng kunum wokmo -b -e em mit
\g up_there_sideways man hide -IPC -3SG.m 3SG.POSS down
\p dem n vi -vinfl -vinfl pron dem
\t unsekale.
\m un -s -e -kale
\g go -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\f He left the tree stem fell noisily there, and took off one bilum, pulled an axe down to
himself, and while chopping this tree (stem) into pieces, a big chip of wood went, and fell
next to the hiding man.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Atemin ba te.
\m atem -in ba -te
\g look -NZ no -FOC
\p vt -vinfl pa -vinfl/proninfl
\f He didn't see him.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Keko bomelei, ais dansekale.
\m ke -eko b -om -ele -i ais dan -s -e -
kale
\g do -SEQ.SS be+PR -NSEQ -3SG.m -DS wood chopp -GP -3SG.m -
PFCT
\p vt -vinfl vs -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl n vt -vinfl -vinfl -
vinfl
\f Thus he chopped the wood.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Ais mak kuw alul am da kolewsom,
\m ais mak kuw alul am da kolew -s -om
\g wood IDEF only put_together house feed stop -GP -NSEQ
\p n pa pa vt n vt vi -vinfl -vinfl
\t kalakane, atemse, "Katemin ba bi.

\m kalakan -e atem -s -e k- atem -in ba bi
\g surprise -3SG.m look -GP -3SG.m ACC.2SG- look -NZ no DEF.PL
\p vt -vinfl vt -vinfl -vinfl vinfl- vt -vinfl pa pa
\t Finganbelew kate, maneng tala!",

\m fingan -b -elew kate maneng tal -a
\g be_afraid_of -IPC -2SG but up_there_sideways come -IMPV.2SG
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl cj dem vi -vinfl
\t dangsekale.
\m d- ang -s -e -kale
\g ACC.3SG.m- say -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p vinfl- vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f He gathered the wood and put it into the house, and starteled he saw him: "I did not see
you for a while. You are afraid, but come up here!", he said to him.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Dange eli, kaneng boku kunum be tale
\m d- ang -e eli kaneng boku kunum be tal -e
\g ACC.3SG.m- say -3SG.m like_that across quick man DEF.m come -
3SG.m
\p vinfl- vt -vinfl pa dem mo n pa vi -
vinfl
\t "Ken belew yako!", dangsekale.

\m ken belew yako d- ang -s -e -kale
\g good hi! ACC.3SG.m- say -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p avql pa vinfl- vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f Thus, the man come over there quickly and said: "Hi, how are you?"
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Debeleei, am tem boku angom ete, "Aa
kunum sel
\m debele -e -i am tem boku ang -om ete aa
kunum sel
\g urge -3SG.m -DS house_inside quick do -NSEQ there Ah man
big
\p vt -vinfl -vinfl n mo vi -vinfl pron pa n
mo
\t we! Kale teina!" Am tem tem boku aso

\m we kale tein -a am tem tem boku aso
\g wantok here sit_down -IMPV.2SG house_inside inside quick 3DL.m
\p n avl vi -vinfl n avl mo pron
\t angsiliwkale.
\m ang -s -iliw -kale
\g do -GP -2/3PL -PFCT
\f He urged him into the house: "Ah, my friend, sit here!", and the two went quickly into the
house.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Kame, e kue kut yulim tem yaka
\m kame e kue kut yulim tem yaka
\g today/now 3SG.m hurry bush/outside veranda inside elsewhere
\p avt pron mo n n dem dem
\t teinsekale.
\m tein -s -e -kale
\g sit_down -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\f Now he hurried outside to the veranda and sat there.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Teinsei, kunum be bokolomele: "Ku
\m tein -s -e -i kunum be bokol -om -ele ku
\g sit_down -GP -3SG.m -DS man DEF.m say -NSEQ -3SG.m 2SG
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl n pa vt -vinfl -vinfl
pron

\t kame yemen mutum gel gel mak kae, yemen men kiin gutem
\m kame yemen mutum gel gel mak kae yemen men kiin gutem
\g today/now small_taro small small IDEF a_ham taro_plant
small_taro
\p avt n mo mo pa pa n n
\t gel gel mak kus dukubelew kale?

\m gel gel mak kus duku -b -elew kale
\g small small IDEF corner put -IPC -2SG PFCT
\p mo mo pa n vt -vinfl -vinfl pa
\f Thus the other man said: "Now, do you happen to have put away one tiny little taro
somewhere in a corner?"
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t "Ku, kablak kabibi, angsekale.
\m ku kablak kabi -b -i." ang -s -e -
kale
\g 2SG down_there cover_with_ash -IPC -1SG say -GP -3SG.m -
PFCT
\p pron dem vt -vinfl -vinfl vt -vinfl -vinfl -
vinfl
\f "I am covering them with ashes down there (in the fire place).", he said.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t "Alemsal kuw kabila!",
\m alemsal kuw kabi -a
\g three only cover_with_ash -IMPV.2SG
\p nm pa vt -vinfl
\t dangsekale.
\m d- ang -s -e -kale
\g ACC.3SG.m- say -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p vinfl- vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f "Cover only three with ashes!", he said to him.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Kale, esik kalakane atemsei, yemen
akati
\m kale esik kalakan -e atem -s -e -i yemen
akati
\g here before surprise -3SG.m look -GP -3SG.m -DS taro more
\p dem avt vt -vinfl vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl n pa
\t men gel gel kal esik e makso

\m men gel gel kal e -sik e makso
\g young small small skin 3SG.m -first 3SG.m another
\p mo mo mo n pron -proninfl pron pa
\t kabim uneko, banso akati kabim

\m kabi -m un -eko banso akati kabi -m
\g cover_with_ash -DUR go -SEQ.SS planty more cover_with_ash -DUR
\p vt -vinfl vi -vinfl mo pa vt -
vinfl
\t angse ki kese ki ais e

kalkal
\m ang -s -e ki ke -s -e ki ais e
kalkal
\g do -GP -3SG.m enough do -GP -3SG.m enough wood 3SG.m twigs
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl pa vt -vinfl -vinfl pa n pron n
\t teinemei, kut tem ka ais gel

gel
\m tein -m -e -i kut tem ka ais gel
gel
\g sit_down -DUR -3SG.m -DS bush/outside hole there wood small
small
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl n n dem n mo
mo
\t o dukusekale.
\m o duku -s -e -kale
\g VOC put -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p pa vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f He was at first surprised to see such small taro, and he at first covered (some) skinny
small taros and then covered more, until he had planty covered with ash, and had enough,
and then he put some small twigs that had been sitting outside under the house, onto (the
fire).
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Ais kalkal gel gel be gel alew kuw mak fakalit
"Kablak
\m ais kalkal gel gel be gel alew kuw mak fakalit kablak
\g wood twigs small small DEF.m small two only IDEF break
down_there
\p n n mo mo pa mo nm pa pa vt dem
\t abula!", dangsekale.
\m abul -a d- ang -s -e -kale
\g put_into -IMPV.2SG ACC.3SG.m- say -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p vt -vinfl vinfl- vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f There were some small twigs, he broke off two very small and said to him: "Put them down
there (in the fire)!".
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Em ibolow esik e kalakalaning ais fian e
\m em ibolow e -sik e kalakalaning ais fian e
\g 3SG.POSS heart 3SG.m -first 3SG.m few wood big
3SG.m
\p pron n pron -proninfl pron mo n mo pron
\t angomelei, ais kalkal sel gilili

\m ang -om -ele -i ais kalkal sel gilili
\g do -NSEQ -3SG.m -DS wood twigs big heap
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl n n mo n
\t kolewsekale.
\m ko -lew -s -e -kale
\g leave -BEN.3SG.m -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f He thought that there was only little wood, and he wanted to make a big fire, and he made
a big heap of twigs.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Abul koleweko, kut em ka une eli,
\m abul kolew -eko kut em ka un -e eli
\g put_into leave -SEQ.SS bush/outside 3SG.POSS there go -3SG.m
like_that
\p vt vi -vinfl n pron dem vi -vinfl pa

\t matem be eing dong weng e dumdum
\m matem be eing dong weng e dumdum
\g specific_place DEF.m wrapped_pack flame talk 3SG.m dum-dum
\p n pa n n n pron pa
\t angsekale.
\m ang -s -e -kale
\g do -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\f He put (the wood) down, and while he went outside, the wrapped up pack and the flames
inside the house made dum-dum (noises).
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Aik be fasu angsekale.
\m aik be fasu ang -s -e -kale
\g fire_place DEF.m rise do -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p n pa vt vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f The fire place rose (i.e. became a very big fire).

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t "Ebe! Ku be nono kelew?" dangei, am
\m ebe ku be nono ke -ew d- ang -e -i am
\g waw! 2SG DEF.m what do -2SG ACC.3SG.m- say -3SG.m -DS
house
\p pa pron pa pa vt -vinfl vinfl- vt -vinfl -vinfl n
\t matem atemeko, "Ebo! Weing mongom ais abul

\m matem atem -eko ebo weing mongom ais abul
\g specific_place look -SEQ.SS wow! fire stem wood light
\p n vt -vinfl pa n n n vt
\t keyembiliw."
\m ke -yem -b -iliw
\g do -Ben.PL -IPC -2/3PL
\p vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl

\f "Wow! What are you doing?", he said to him, and he (=the other man) looked into the
house (and siad:) "Wow! The fire flames are lighting the wood put in (there)!"
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Inkal so am keinomin kis kese kai!
\m inkal so am keinomin kis ke -s -e kai
\g frightening house almost almost do -GP -3SG.m gee!
\p mo n mo pa vt -vinfl -vinfl pa
\f "Gee, that is frightful! The house is almost going to burn!

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Aik kalak yemen inkalso mak kese
kai!
\m aik kalak yemen inkal so mak ke -s -e kai
\g fire_place down_there taro frightening IDEF do -GP -3SG.m
gee!
\p n dem n mo pa vt -vinfl -vinfl pa
\f Gee, and in the fire place down there is a frightful big taro!
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Yemen inkalso mak fasuko, ... ku kale nono kelew
\m yemen inkal so mak fasu -eko ku kale nono ke -ew
\g taro frightening IDEF rise -SEQ.SS 2SG here what do -2SG
\p n mo pa vt -vinfl pron dem pa vt -vinfl
\t keembelew?
\m ke -m -b -elew
\g do -DUR -IPC -2SG
\p vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f A frightful big taro rose, and he ... -- what did you do here the whole time?
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Weing be aso ki keko, kut dale
\m weing be aso ki ke -eko kut da -e
\g fire DEF.m 3DL.m enough do -SEQ.SS bush/outside feed -3SG.m
\p n pa pron pa vt -vinfl n vt -vinfl

\t kolewsiliwi, ka belei, i
\m ko -lew -s -iliw -i ka b -ele -i i
\g leave -BEN.3SG.m -GP -2/3PL -DS there be+PR -3SG.m -DS
they
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl dem vs -vinfl -vinfl
pr
\t teinsiliw.
\m tein -s -iliw
\g sit_down -GP -2/3PL
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl
\f They put out the fire together, and out it ouside, and then they sat down.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Yemen kainei, aso kokda wane tein
\m yemen kain -e -i aso kokda wan -e tein
\g taro burn -3SG.m -DS 3DL.m take_out eat -3SG.m sit_down
\p n vi -vinfl -vinfl pron vt vt -vinfl vi
\t alenaliw.
\m a -ena -liw
\g be+PST -DUR -2/3PL
\p v -vinfl -vinfl
\f The taro burnt and they took it out (of the fire), and sat down to eat.
\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Teinbiliwi, aneng kuinsekale.
\m tein -b -iliw -i aneng ku -in -s -e -
kale
\g sit_down -IPC -2/3PL -DS place 2SG -NZ -GP -3SG.m -
PFCT
\p vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl n pron -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl -
vinfl
\f Thus evening broke.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Bel gaansekale.
\m bel gaan -s -e -kale
\g cicada call -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p n vi -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f A cicada called out.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Baka sang be em anung gel kesekale.
\m baka sang be em anung gel ke -s -e -kale
\g this story DEF.m 3SG.POSS half small do -GP -3SG.m -PFCT
\p pron n pa pron n mo vt -vinfl -vinfl -vinfl
\f This is a small part of the story.

\dt 30/Sep/97

\t Tiakim kate anung e betekuw.
\m tiakim kate anung e betekuw
\g long.INTS but half 3SG.m that's_it.
\p mo dj n pron pa
\f (The story) is long, but this part is finished.

\dt 30/Sep/97

12. List of Abbreviations
1 first person LOC locative

2 second person m masculine
3 third person MC medial clause
ACC accusative MP modifier phrase
ACP accompanying N nucleus
ART article NEG negative
ASP aspect nn noun
cj conjunction NOM nominative
BEN benefactor NP noun phrase
CL clause NSEQ non-sequential
COND conditional NUM numeral phrase
DBL double NZ nominalizer
DEF definitive O object
DET determiner OPT optative
DL dual PER periphery
DS different S PF prefix
DUP (re-)duplication PFCT perfective
DUR durative aspect PL plural
FC final clause PNEG prohibitive negative
f feminine POSS possessive
FOC focus PR present
FP further past pr pronoun
FUT future PST past
GP general past PURP purpose
IC independent clause PV pro-verb
IPC immediate past continuous REL relative
IDEF indefinite REP repetitive
IDS indirect speech RFLX reflexive
IMPV imperative S subject
INTS intensifier SP speaker
IPST immediate past SEQ sequential

SF suffix TNT tentative
SG singular V verb
SS same S vb verb
TEMP temporal VOC vocative
temp temporal VP verb phrase
TNS tense

13. Bibliography
Crystal, David. 19852.“A dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics”. Oxford: Basil
Blackwell.
Foley, William A. 1986. “The Papuan languages of New Guinea”. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Weber, Thomas and Christiane Weber. 1992a. “Organized Phonology Data of
Bimin”. Ms: SIL, Ukarumpa.
Weber, Thomas and Christiane Weber. 1992b. “Appendix to OPD Bimin”. Ms: SIL,
Ukarumpa.
Wurm, Stephen A. 1982. “Papuan Languages of Oceania”. Tübingen: Narr.

Bimin Grammar Essentials

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Bimin Grammar Essentials

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V e 'he' u 'she' i 'they'

Some examples how to apply the syllable patterns:

fi- ki- liw

ka- bi- liw

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SEQ.DS: N + TNS + NOM + DS

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Category 1: Category 2: Category 3:

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3

There are a few things to be noted:

Set - EMPH + EMPH Set

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Compare this example (7) to example (8)

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Category 1: Category 2: Category 3:

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Category 1 Category 2 Category 3

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Set 1 Set 2 Set 3

The optional l, comes in after preceding open syllables.

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A quite common suffix appended to the general pronoun is the “in-focus-setter”

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na- ye- n- y- ne- ye-

nem- im- nem- im-

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-(e)nem -(e)yem -em -yem

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The tense suffix is a third order suffix.

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It is hard to decide if the immediate past continuous is a tense or an aspect as it has

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a) The verb tal- ‘come’

attached SF vowel vb stem change to examples

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b) The verb b- ‘be’

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5.5.5.2.Immediate Past Continuous (IPC)