# Moi language

Moi is a West Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea.

## Phonology
### Consonants

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ŋ | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | | k | (ʔ) |
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | | ɡ | |
| Fricative | Fricative | f | s | | | h |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | l | j | | |
| Trill | Trill | | r | | | |
[ʔ] is in free variation with /k/ in word-final position.

### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i | | u |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ə | ɔ |
| Open | a | | ɑ |
/i, u/ can also be heard as [ɪ, ʊ].

## Morphology
### Verb morphology

Verbs agree with the grammatical subject for person, number and, in the third-person, for gender. There are three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and non-human. For the third person plural, the gender distinction applies only for human vs. non-human. For the first person plural, there exists a two way clusivity distinction. The agreement markers are prefixes on the main verb.
Moi subject agreement prefixes :
| | Singular | Singular | Plural | Plural |
| 1p. | t- | t- | Incl. | Excl. |
| 1p. | t- | t- | w- | m- |
| 2p. | n- | n- | n- | n- |
| 3p. | Masculine | w- | y- | y- |
| 3p. | Feminine | m- | y- | y- |
| 3p. | Non-human | p- | n- | n- |
Along with agreement prefixes cross-referencing the grammatical number of the subject, the verb stem itself can reflect number too: there may be one stem allomorph with front vowels (singular agreement) and one with back vowels (plural agreement).
H:human PROX:proximal
ne-dala
person-man
we-ben
3MSG-hit
ne-laagi
person-woman
ne-dala we-ben ne-laagi
person-man 3MSG-hit person-woman
'A man hit a woman'
ne-laagi
person-woman
me-ben
3FSG-hit
ne-dala
person-man
ne-laagi me-ben ne-dala
person-woman 3FSG-hit person-man
'A woman hit a man'
te-ben
1SG-hit
miye-kiyem
child-little
te-ben miye-kiyem
1SG-hit child-little
'I hit a child'
n-auk
2SG-place
p-au
3SG.NH-at.SG
kamaser
place.mat
n-auk p-au kamaser
2SG-place 3SG.NH-at.SG place.mat
'You put it on a place mat'
ne-Moi
person-Moi
y-eek
3PL.H-know
yawa
sago.tree
k-ow
PROX.DEM
ne-Moi y-eek yawa k-ow
person-Moi 3PL.H-know sago.tree PROX.DEM
'Moi people knew this sago tree'
aa-ya-faagu
DU-3PL.H-collect
kawak
stone
n-uu-s
3PL.NH-at.PL-PERF
ow
DEM
aa-ya-faagu kawak n-uu-s ow
DU-3PL.H-collect stone 3PL.NH-at.PL-PERF DEM
'They both collected stones there'
aa-m-oka
DU-1PL.EXCL-assume
aa-n-ankar
DU-2PL-cheat
mam
1PL.EXCL
aa-m-oka aa-n-ankar mam
DU-1PL.EXCL-assume DU-2PL-cheat 1PL.EXCL
'We both thought that the two of you cheated us'
ara
breadfruit.tree
n-eesin
3PL.NH-fruit
n-oolok
3PL.NH-fall
n-osu
3PL.NH-to
aali
below
ara n-eesin n-oolok n-osu aali
breadfruit.tree 3PL.NH-fruit 3PL.NH-fall 3PL.NH-to below
'Fruits of the breadfruit tree fell down'
As can be seen in the examples (1d) and (1f) and elaborated on by Menick, elements corresponding to prepositions in English share characteristics with verbs, which is why the conclusion can be made that the lexical category of adpositions is absent in Moi.

### Nominal morphology

Inalienable nouns are obligatorily marked by prefixes for the possessor agreement (see example (1h) ara n-eesin 'breadfruit fruits', literally 'breadfruit tree its fruits')

### Negation

To negate a clause, the particle dau following the verb is used:
ne-Moi
person-Moi
y-eek
3PL.H-know
dau
NEG
yawa
sago.tree
k-ow
PROX.DEM
ne-Moi y-eek dau yawa k-ow
person-Moi 3PL.H-know NEG sago.tree PROX.DEM
'Moi people did not know this sago tree'
The same particle can also negate a noun phrase:
ne-Moi
person-Moi
dau
NEG
y-eek
3PL.H-know
yawa
sago.tree
k-ow
PROX.DEM
ne-Moi dau y-eek yawa k-ow
person-Moi NEG 3PL.H-know sago.tree PROX.DEM
'not the Moi people knew this sago tree'
ne-Moi
person-Moi
y-eek
3PL.H-know
yawa
sago.tree
k-ow
PROX.DEM
dau
NEG
ne-Moi y-eek yawa k-ow dau
person-Moi 3PL.H-know sago.tree PROX.DEM NEG
'the Moi people knew not this sago tree'

### Aspect

The verb -ein indicates perfective aspect. It can also be indicated by the means of the suffix -s appended to the verb, cf ex. (1f) above.
ya-sak
3PL.H-cross
Kalasowo
river.name
aali-ow
below-DEM
p-ein
3SG.NH-finish
y-umu
3PL.H-leave:PL
ya-sak Kalasowo aali-ow p-ein y-umu
3PL.H-cross river.name below-DEM 3SG.NH-finish 3PL.H-leave:PL
'After they had crossed the Kalasowo river, they left.' Literally: 'they crossed the Kalasowo river down there, it was finished, they left'