The Kiriwinan classifiers

Abstract

The Kiriwina language is spoken by a population of 16,000 people on the Northern fringe of the Milne Bay Province in Papua New Guinea. The majority of this number live in the Trobriand Islands Group, some 12,000 on the main island, Kiriwina, and 2,500 on other islands of the group. The rest of the Kiriwina-speaking people are mostly resident in the Marshall Bennett Islands, with two small Kiriwina-speaking communities in Yanabwa (the Northern fringe of Egum Atoll) and the Lusancay Islands. Show more