in 'nit' and 'lime spatula'). (See Bradshaw 1978a.) Morphology Although Numbami is phonologically conservative, it retains very little productive morphology, most of it related to person and number marking. Pronouns and person markers Free pronouns Free pronouns occur in the same positions as subject or object nouns. They distinguish three persons (with a clusivity distinction in the first person) and four numbers (Bradshaw 1982a). Genitive pronouns Genitive pronouns also distinguish three persons (plus clusivity) and four numbers (Bradshaw 1982a). Subject prefixes Verbs are marked with subject prefixes that distinguish three persons (plus clusivity) and two tenses, Nonfuture and Future. (The latter distinction is often characterized as one between Realis and Irrealis mode; see Bradshaw 1993, 1999.) In most cases, subject prefixes are easily segmentable from verb stems, but in a few very high frequency cases, prefix-final vowels merge with verb-initial vowels to yield irregularly inflected forms, as in the following paradigm: wani (< wa-ani) '1SG-eat', woni (< u-ani) '2SG-eat', weni (< i-ani) '3SG-eat', tani (< ta-ani) '1PLINCL-eat', mani (< ma-ani) '1PLEXCL-eat', moni (< mu-ani) '2PL-eat', teni (< ti-ani) '3PL-eat'. Numerals Traditional Numbami counting practices started with the digits of the left hand, then continued on the right hand and then the feet, to reach '20', which translates as 'one person'. Higher numbers are multiples of 'one person'. Nowadays, most counting above '5' is done in Tok Pisin. As in other Huon Gulf languages, the short form of the numeral 'one' functions as an indefinite article. Names Like many other Huon Gulf languages, Numbami has a system of birth-order names. The seventh son and sixth daughter are called "No Name": Ase Mou 'name none'. Ideophones Although many languages have a class of ideophones with distinctive phonology, Numbami is unusual in having a morphological marker for such a class. The suffix -a(n)dala is unique to ideophones but is clearly related to the word andalowa 'path, way, road' (POc *jalan). (See Bradshaw 2006.) In the following examples, acute accents show the placement of word stress. bái-andala 'overcast, clouded over' dendende-ándala 'shivering' golópu-adala 'slipping or dripping through' kí-andala 'scorching, parched' paká-adala 'getting light, flashing on, popping' pilipíli-adala 'flapping, fluttering' sí-andala 'shooting up, springing away' sulúku-adala 'sucking, slurping' taká-adala 'stuck fast, planted firmly' tíki-adala 'going dark' Syntax Word order The basic word order in Numbami is SVO, with prepositions, preposed genitives, postposed adjectives and relative clauses. Relative clauses are marked at both ends, and so