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:Stebbins, Tonya N. 2011. Mali (Baining) grammar. (Pacific Linguistics, 623.) Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
Arongda dialect (standard dialect; with two groups), spoken in the mountains, including in Marunga village () in Sinivit Rural LLG, East New Britain Province Abilta dialect, spoken along the coast
Phonology The phonology of the Mali language:
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarPlosivevoicelessptkprenasalᵐbⁿdᵑɡFricativeβsNasalmnŋApproximantwɹjɰLaterallRhoticr
Vowels FrontCentralBackHighi uMideəoLowa
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) | 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’
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