# Kambera language

Kambera, also known as East Sumbanese, is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in the eastern half of Sumba Island in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. Kambera is a member of Bima-Sumba subgrouping within Central Malayo-Polynesian inside Malayo-Polynesian. The island of Sumba, located in Eastern Indonesia, has an area of 11,243.78 km$^2$. The name Kambera comes from a traditional region which is close to the town of Waingapu in East Sumba Regency. Because of export trades which concentrated in Waingapu in the 19th century, the language of the Kambera region has become the bridging language in eastern Sumba.

## Phonology
### Vowels

| | Front | Back |
| High | i iː | u uː |
| Mid | e ai | o au |
| Low | a, aː | a, aː |
The diphthongs /ai/ and /au/ function phonologically as the long counterparts to /e/ and /o/, respectively.

### Consonants

| | | Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ŋ | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | plain | p | t | dʒ | k | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | prenasalized | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮdʒ | ᵑɡ | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | implosive | ɓ | ɗ | | | |
| Fricative | Fricative | | | | | h |
| Lateral | Lateral | | l | | | |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | r | | | |
| Semivowel | plain | w | | j | | |
| Semivowel | prenasalized | | | ᶮj | | |
Kambera formerly had /s/, but a sound change occurring around the turn of the 20th century replaced all occurrences of former /s/ with /h/.

## Morpho-syntax
### Negation

Negators are used in Kambera, and other languages, to make a clause or sentence negative in meaning. Kambera has several types of negators. There are six main types of negators listed below.
| Negators | English translation |
| nda | negation |
| ndia | emphatic negation |
| ndedi | 'not yet' |
| àmbu | 'won't, don't' (irrealis negation) |
| àmbu...ndoku | 'won't/don't...at all' |
| nda...ndoku | 'not...at all' |
Ndia 'no' is used for general negation, and nda 'negative' or ndedi 'not yet' are predicate negators. Ndoku is used to emphasise the negation by being placed with the negator àmbu or nda.
Ambu
NEG.IRR
bobar
preach
ndoku
NEG.EMP
-ma
-EMP
-ya!
-3SG.ACC.EMP
Ambu bobar ndoku -ma -ya!
NEG.IRR preach NEG.EMP -EMP -3SG.ACC.EMP
'Do not talk about it at all!'
Àmbu is used to express future negation, as well as negation in imperatives.
Àmbu
NEG.IRR
katuda=kau
sleep=2SG.ACC
nàhu!
now
Àmbu katuda=kau nàhu!
NEG.IRR sleep=2SG.ACC now
'Don't go to sleep now!'
Negators are elements in a clause that are deictic. They can be used to refer to time, space and discourse. Shown below, the negator, ndia, is used to refer to discourse.
Ndia
NEG
ná!
DEI
Ndia ná!
NEG DEI
'No!' (not like that)
Two of these negators, nda and àmbu – with nda being a general negator, are used for nominal and verbal predicates.
Nda
NEG
ningu
be
ndoku
NEG.EMP
Nda ningu ndoku
NEG be NEG.EMP
'There are none at all.'

#### Negators into verbs

The word pa in Kambera is derivational and can be added to few prepositional nouns, numerals and negators to create verbs. The emphatic negator ndia 'no' can become a verb through pa derivation. The translation of this verb then becomes 'to deny'.
Example below of how ndia is constructed into a verb in a given phrase:
na-
3SG.NOM-
pa.ndia
pa.no
-ya
-3SG.ACC.EMP
ba
CNJ
nda
NEG
na-
3SG.NOM
njala
be/do wrong
na- pa.ndia -ya ba nda na- njala
3SG.NOM- pa.no -3SG.ACC.EMP CNJ NEG 3SG.NOM {be/do wrong}
'He denied that he did wrong.'

#### Noun phrases

A nuclear clause has the predicate as the head in Kambera, and modifiers are positioned at the beginning of the clause. As nda is a modifier it is placed at the beginning of a clause, as a clause-initial negator, before the verb and the rest of the elements of a nuclear clause.
You can distinguish nominal clauses from NPs is through the irrealis negator àmbu and the negator nda, which both never occur inside a possessed NP.

#### Clitics

The Kambera word nda is also considered to be a pro-clitic as well, as they do not conform to the minimal word requirement and must occur with a syntactic/phonological host. A clitic is a type of bound morpheme which is syntactically free, but are phonologically bound morphemes. They can attach themselves to a stem, for example the negator nda. Nda appears before its host and is used to mark negation. It has a very simple phonotactic properties and cannot carry stress. Nda as a clitic can only ever occur with a host.
Ka
CNJ
'nggiki
why
hi
CNJ
nda
NEG
=u-
2PL.PN-
'ita
see
-ka?
-1SG.ACC.EMP
Ka 'nggiki hi nda =u- 'ita -ka?
CNJ why CNJ NEG 2PL.PN- see -1SG.ACC.EMP
'Why didn't you see me?'
In the example above, the negator nda becomes nda u- [ndaw], with nda attaching itself to the allomorph u-. Nda is a proclitic that marks an embedded clause in Kambera.

### Relative clauses

Negators are also included in relative clauses, but are not a part of the noun phrase.
[Nda
NEG
[ndui
money
pa-
RmO-
bohu]$_{NP}$]
steal
-ya
-3SG.ACC.EMP
[Nda [ndui pa- bohu]$_{NP}$] -ya
NEG money RmO- steal -3SG.ACC.EMP
'It (is) not stolen money.'

### Pronouns and person markers

Personal pronouns are used in Kambera for emphasis/disambiguation; the syntactic relation between full pronouns and clitics is similar to that between NPs and clitics. NPs and pronouns have morphological case.
Personal Pronouns :
| | | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person | exclusive | nyungga | nyuma |
| 1st person | inclusive | nyungga | nyuta |
| 2nd person | 2nd person | nyumu | nyimi |
| 3rd person | 3rd person | nyuna | nyuda |
Kambera, as a head-marking language, has rich morpho-syntactic marking on its predicators. The pronominal, aspectual, and/or mood clitics together with the predicate constitute the nuclear clause. Definite verbal arguments are crossreferenced on the predicate for person, number, and case (Nominative (N), Genitive (G), Dative (D), Accusative (A)). The four main pronominal clitic paradigms are given below.
| | Nominative | Genitive | Accusative | Dative |
| 1SG | ku- | -nggu | -ka | -ngga |
| 2SG | (m)u- | -mu | -kau | -nggau |
| 3SG | na- | -na | -ya | -nya |
| 1PL.INC | ta- | -nda | ta- | -nda |
| 1PL.EXC | ma- | -ma | -kama | -nggama |
| 2PL | (m)i- | -mi | -ka(m)i | -ngga(m)i |
| 3PL | da- | -da | -ha | -nja |
Examples:
apu-nggu
granny-1SG.GEN
apu-nggu
granny-1SG.GEN
'My granny.'
ana-na
child-3SG.GEN
ana-na
child-3SG.GEN
'His child.'
Kau
scratch
pa.ta.lunggur-ya
CAU.be sore
na
ART
wihi-na
leg-3SG.GEN
Kau pa.ta.lunggur-ya na wihi-na
scratch {CAU.be sore} ART leg-3SG.GEN
'He scratched his leg sore.' (lit. 'He scratched and caused his leg to be sore')
Na-tari-bia
3SG.NOM-watch-MOD
nahu
now
angu-na
companion-3SG.GEN
Na-tari-bia nahu angu-na
3SG.NOM-watch-MOD now companion-3SG.GEN
'He just watches his companion.'
Ningu
be.here
uma-nggua
house-1SG.GEN
Ningu uma-nggua
be.here house-1SG.GEN
'I have a house.' (lit. 'Here is a house of mine.')
Nyuda-ha-ka
they-3PL.ACC-PRF
nahu
now
da
ART
ana-nda
child-1PL.GEN
Nyuda-ha-ka nahu da ana-nda
they-3PL.ACC-PRF now ART child-1PL.GEN
'They are our children now.'
The items in the table below mark person and number of the subject when the clause has continuative aspect.
| | | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person | exclusive | -nggunya | -manya |
| 1st person | inclusive | -nggunya | -ndanya |
| 2nd person | 2nd person | -munya | -minya |
| 3rd person | 3rd person | -nanya | -danya |
Examples:
Lunggur-nanya
scratch-3SG.CONT
na
ART
Ihi-na
body-3SG.GEN
Lunggur-nanya na Ihi-na
scratch-3SG.CONT ART body-3SG.GEN
'He is scratching his body.'
"Laku-nnguya
go-1SG.CONT
ina",
mother
wa-na
say-3SG
"Laku-nnguya ina", wa-na
go-1SG.CONT mother say-3SG
"'I am going, mother,' he said."

### Possession

Kambera has a possessive or reflexive noun wiki 'self/own', which can be used to mark possession (1).
Uma
house
wiki
self/own
-nggu
-1SG.GEN
Uma wiki -nggu
house self/own -1SG.GEN
'My own house'
Wiki has the structural properties of a noun and can be used as a nominal modifier (compare 2 and 3), unlike pronouns which must be cross-referenced on the noun with a genitive clitic (3).
Uma
house
witu
grass
-nggu
-1SG.GEN
Uma witu -nggu
house grass -1SG.GEN
'My hut'
Uma
house
-nggu
-1SG.GEN
nyungga
I
Uma -nggu nyungga
house -1SG.GEN I
'My house'
As (3) is a possessed noun phrase, the enclitic attaches to the noun. In possessed and modified noun phrases, the genitive enclitic attaches to the noun modifier (4).
Na
ART
uma
house
'bakul
be big
-nggu
-1SG.GEN
Na uma 'bakul -nggu
ART house {be big} -1SG.GEN
'My big house'
In Kambera, where cross-referencing is used, the noun phrase is optional. A verb along with its pronominal markers constitutes a complete sentence. Pronominal clitics are a morphological way of expressing relationships between syntactic constituents such as a noun and its possessor.

#### Possessor relativisation

Possessors can be relativised with a ma- relative clause. There are three types of clauses used in the relativisation of possessors.
The first is when the embedded verb is derived from a relational noun such as mother or child. These derived transitive verbs express relations between the subject and the object (5).
Na
ART
anakeda
child
[na
[ART
ma-
RmS-
ina
mother
-nya]
-3SG.DAT]
Na anakeda [na ma- ina -nya]
ART child [ART RmS- mother -3SG.DAT]
'the child whose mother she is'/'the child she is the mother of'
The second clause type is where the possessor is the head of the ma- relative clause and the possessee is the subject of the embedded verb (6).
Ita
See
-nggu
-1SG.GEN
-nya
-3SG.DAT
[na
[ART
tau
person
na
ART
ma-meti
RmS-die
kuru uma
wife
-na]
-3SG.GEN]
Ita -nggu -nya [na tau na ma-meti {kuru uma} -na]
See -1SG.GEN -3SG.DAT [ART person ART RmS-die wife -3SG.GEN]
'I saw [the man whose wife died]
The final type is where the relative clause contains the verb ningu 'be' and the incorporated argument of this verb. The head of the relative construction is the possessor (7).
Na
ART
tau
person
na
ART
ma-
RmS-
ningu
be
ihi
content
woka
garden
.ng
.ng
N.B: the morpheme .ng marks the edge of incorporation
Na tau na ma- ningu ihi woka .ng
ART person ART RmS- be content garden .ng
'the person that has crops' (lit. 'the person whose garden content is')
Normally, the possessor pronoun nyuna 'he/she' follows the possessed noun (8), though it can also be the head of a relativised clause (9).
Na
ART
marihak
be dirty
[na
[ART
kalembi
shirt
-na
-3SG.GEN
nyuna]
he]
Na marihak [na kalembi -na nyuna]
ART {be dirty} [ART shirt -3SG.GEN he]
'His shirt is dirty'
Nyuna
He
na
ART
[ma-
RmS-
marihak
be dirty
na
ART
kalembi
shirt
-na
-3SG.GEN
Nyuna na [ma- marihak na kalembi -na
He ART RmS- {be dirty} ART shirt -3SG.GEN
'He whose shirt is dirty'
Possessors can also be relativised in the same way as subjects. For example, in the following headless relative clause (no possessor NP is present), a definite article is present (10).
Na
ART
ma-
RmS-
rabih
trickle
karaha
side
kalai
left
-na
-3SG.GEN
Na ma- rabih karaha kalai -na
ART RmS- trickle side left -3SG.GEN
'The (one) whose left side trickles (i.e. lets water through)' (mythological character that is the source of rain)

## Abbreviations

| Gloss | Meaning |
| NEG.irr | irrealis negator |
| NEG.emp | emphatic negator |
| EMP | emphasis marker |
| 2s | 2nd person singular |
| ACC | accusative |
| DEI | deictic element (space/time) |
| 3sN | 3rd person singular nominative |
| 3sA | 3rd person accusative singular emphatic pronoun |
| CNJ | conjunction |
| 2pN | 2nd person singular pronoun |
| 1sA | 1st person accusative singular emphatic pronoun |
| RmO | object relative clause marker |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Kambera at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
* 1 2 Klamer 1998
* 1 2 3 Klamer 2005, p. 723
* 1 2 Klamer 1998, p. 143
* 1 2 Klamer 1998, p. 142
* ↑ Klamer 1998, p. 184
* ↑ Klamer 1998, p. 185
* ↑ Klamer 1998, p. 77
* ↑ Klamer 1998, p. 99
* ↑ Klamer 1998, p. 27
* ↑ Klamer 1998, p. 47
* 1 2 Klamer 1998, p. 50
* ↑ Klamer 1998, p. 336
* ↑ Klamer 1998, pp. 130–131
* ↑ Klamer 1998, p. 48
* ↑ Klamer 1998, pp. 60–61
* ↑ Klamer 1998, pp. 320–321