Note on the Kovio Language.
Reading edition
By Dr. W. M. Strong.
Substantially the same language is spoken in the whole of the neighbourhood of Mount Yule. I have travelled all around this mountain and the same interpreter was able to make himself understood everywhere. The vocabulary recorded below was collected by means of the Motuan from a native of Lopiko in the Inava valley. I have also collected short vocabularies from the village of Inavarene in the same valley, and from the Kwoifa district of the upper part of the Lakekamu river. These vocabularies show close similarities with that of Lopiko. The natives around the Pic Eleia also speak much the same language.
The vocabulary of the language bears no resemblance to any other language I am acquainted with. It is peculiar in that a word often ends in a consonant preceded by a short vowel. There is also an unusual consonant sound in the language. This sound seems to vary between a “ch” and a “tch” sound.
The pronouns are as follows;—
First person: na.
Second person: ni.
Third person: pi.
One: uniuni.
Two: karaala.
Three: naralavievi napuevi.
Four: naralavievi naralavievi.
Five: naralavievi naralavievi napuievi.
Ten: kowa.
Eleven: kowa uniuni.
Twelve: kowa karaala.
Twenty: kowakowa.
Singular. Plural.
1st Person, na, naro. lst Person, dae, daro.
2nd Person, ni, niro. 2nd Person, ali, alero.
3rd Person, pi, piro. 3rd Person, valo, valoro.