Bariai

A language of Papua New Guinea

ISO 639-3

Alternate Names

“Kabana” (pej.)

Population

1,380 (1998 SIL).

Location

West New Britain province: east of Cape Gloucester, northwest coast.

Language Status

5 (Developing).

Classification

Dialects

None known. Lexical similarity: 72% with Kove [kvc], 76% with Lusi [khl].

Typology

SVO; prepositions, 14% of syllables are closed; morphologically less complex than most Austronesian languages.

Language Use

All ages. Also use Tok Pisin [tpi]. Used as L2 by Amara [aie], Anem [anz].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L1: 41% (adults). Literacy rate in L2: 83% (adults). Dictionary. NT: 2012.

Language Resources

Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

‘Kabana’ is acceptable to the 3 eastern villages but offensive to most of the population.