Mali language

Mali or Gaktai is a Papuan language spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Dialects
There are two dialects of Mali:


 * Arongda dialect (standard dialect; with two groups), spoken in the mountains, including in Marunga village (-4.97038°N, 152.0435°W) in Sinivit Rural LLG, East New Britain Province
 * Abilta dialect, spoken along the coast

Phonology
The phonology of the Mali language:

Noun classes
Mali makes use of noun classes. Below are some Mali noun class paradigms, using the noun root amēng ‘tree’ as an example:



! Noun class !! Singular !! Dual !! Plural !! Gloss ! Masculine (m) ! Feminine (f) ! Diminutive (dim) ! Reduced (rcd) ! Flat (flat) ! Excised (exc) ! Long (long) ! Extended (ext) ! Count neutral (cn)
 * amēng-ka || amēng-iom || amēng || ‘slender tree’
 * amēng-ki || amēng-vem || amēng || ‘large full grown tree’
 * amēng-ini || amēng-ithom || amēng-ithong || ‘stick’
 * amēng-ēm || amēng-vam || amēng-vap || ‘tree stump’
 * amēng-igl || amēng-iglem || amēng-igleng || ‘plank’
 * amēng-vēt || amēng-imelēm || amēng-imelēk || ‘pole’
 * amēng-ia || amēng-inēm || amēng-inēk || ‘large log’
 * amēng || ||  || ‘wood or trees’
 * }