| Mali | |
| Nativename: | Gaktai |
| Region: | New Britain |
| Coordinates: | -4.9704°N 152.0435°W |
| Speakers: | 2,200 |
| Date: | 1988 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Baining |
| Iso3: | gcc |
| Glotto: | mali1284 |
| Glottorefname: | Mali |
Mali or Gaktai is a Papuan language spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
There are two dialects of Mali:[1]
The phonology of the Mali language:[3]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | |||
| Fricative | β | s | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Approximant | w | ɹ | j | ɰ | ||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | ||
| Mid | e | ə | o | |
| Low | a |
Mali makes use of noun classes. Below are some Mali noun class paradigms, using the noun root amēng ‘tree’ as an example:[4]
| Noun class | Singular | Dual | Plural | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine (m) | amēng-ka | amēng-iom | amēng | ‘slender tree’ | |
| Feminine (f) | amēng-ki | amēng-vem | amēng | ‘large full grown tree’ | |
| Diminutive (dim) | amēng-ini | amēng-ithom | amēng-ithong | ‘stick’ | |
| Reduced (rcd) | amēng-ēm | amēng-vam | amēng-vap | ‘tree stump’ | |
| Flat (flat) | ― | ― | ― | ― | |
| Excised (exc) | amēng-igl | amēng-iglem | amēng-igleng | ‘plank’ | |
| Long (long) | amēng-vēt | amēng-imelēm | amēng-imelēk | ‘pole’ | |
| Extended (ext) | amēng-ia | amēng-inēm | amēng-inēk | ‘large log’ | |
| Count neutral (cn) | amēng | ‘wood or trees’ |