Mekeo language

E622993

The Mekeo language is an Austronesian language spoken by the Mekeo people of southeastern Papua New Guinea, known for its complex verb morphology and rich system of spatial expressions.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Mekeo language canonical 4

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Austronesian language
natural language
country Papua New Guinea
endangermentStatus vulnerable (reported)
ethnicGroup Mekeo people
family Austronesian
hasAlignment accusative
hasAlternativeName Mekeo
hasBasicWordOrderFlexibility yes
hasDialect East Mekeo
North Mekeo
Northwest Mekeo
West Mekeo
hasFeature complex verb morphology
rich system of spatial expressions
hasGrammaticalCategory aspect
directionals
locatives
mood
number
person
tense
hasLexicalBorrowingFrom English
Tok Pisin
hasMorphologicalType agglutinative
hasNegationStrategy verbal negation particles
hasPhonologicalFeature contrastive vowel length (reported)
simple consonant inventory (relative to neighbors)
hasPronominalSystem bound pronominal markers on verbs
independent pronouns
hasResearchFocus semantics of space and motion
spatial expressions
verb morphology
hasWordOrder SVO-dominant
hasWritingSystem Latin script
linked to: Latin alphabet
ISO639-3 mek
isSpokenBy several thousand speakers (approximate)
isSubjectOf descriptive grammars
typological studies of Oceanic languages
languageFamilyBranch Malayo-Polynesian
Western Oceanic
region southeastern Papua New Guinea
spokenIn Central Province, Papua New Guinea
subfamily Oceanic
subgroup Central Papuan Tip languages
usedFor daily communication
oral literature
traditional ceremonies

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Papuan Tip linkage hasLanguage Mekeo language
Central Papuan Tip language hasMember Mekeo language
Mailu language hasNeighboringLanguage Mekeo language