Porome, also known as Kibiri, is a Papuan language of southern Papua New Guinea.

Classification

Porome was classified as a language isolate by Stephen Wurm. Although Malcolm Ross linked it to the Kiwaian languages, there is no evidence for a connection apart from the pronouns 1sg amo and 2sg do (cf. proto-Kiwaian *mo and *oro).

Distribution

There are over a thousand speakers in Babaguina (-7.48098°N, 144.25401°W), Doibo (-7.45766°N, 144.27173°W), Ero (-7.44613°N, 144.36483°W), Paile, Tipeowo, and Wowa (-7.41429°N, 144.31558°W) villages in West Kikori Rural LLG and East Kikori Rural LLG of Gulf Province, near the Aird Hills and Kikori River tributaries.

Phonology

Porome has 9 native consonants. /s/ occurs in loanwords. There are no glottal consonants. There are five vowels, which are /a, e, i, o, u/. Like the surrounding languages, Porome is a tonal language. It has 5 tones.

Pronouns

The independent pronouns and subject suffixes to the verb are as follows: ! !!sg!!du!!pl !1 !2 !3

Vocabulary

Selected Porome vocabulary from Petterson (2010):

Body parts

! Porome !! Gloss

Numerals

! Porome !! Gloss

Village and society

! Porome !! Gloss

Nature and environment

! Porome !! Gloss

Plants

! Porome !! Gloss

Animals

! Porome !! Gloss

Comparison

Lexical comparison of Porome with neighboring languages: ! gloss !! Porome (isolate) !! Urama (Kiwaian) !! Rumu (Turama–Kikorian) !! Ipiko (Anim) !! Folopa (Teberan) !! Baimuru (isolate) ! head ! eye ! house ! village ! place ! tree ! fire ! dog ! bird ! water ! earth ! base ! sago ! 1s pronoun ! 2s pronoun ! 3s pronoun ! 1p pronoun ! 2p pronoun ! 3p pronoun Comparison of Porome's phonological inventory with those of neighboring languages: ! language !! no. of consonants !! no. of vowels !! /h/ !! /ʔ/ ! Porome ! Baimuru ! Rumu ! Kope ! Urama ! Kerewo