[2] Thanks to decades of studies by anthropologists such as Ralph Bulmer and others, Kalam is one of the best-studied Trans-New Guinea languages to date.
Kalam has an elaborate pandanus avoidance register used during karuka harvest that has been extensively documented.
[4] Below are some Kalam reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea proposed by Pawley (2012, 2018).
[7] pakstrikesug-extinguishedpak sug-strike extinguished‘put out a fire’pakstrikewk-shatteredpak wk-strike shattered‘knock something to bits, shatter something’pugblowsug-extinguishedpug sug-blow extinguished‘blow out a flame’puŋipierceask-openedpuŋi ask-pierce opened‘prise something open’puŋipiercelak-splitpuŋi lak-pierce split‘split something by wedging or levering’tawstep.onpagbrokenyok-displacedtaw pag yok-step.on broken displaced‘break something off by stepping on it’tbcutklukgougeyok-displacedtb kluk yok-cut gouge displaced‘gouge something out’Other serial verb constructions in Kalam include:[7]: 117 Some examples of nominal compounds in Kalam:[7] bin-bwoman-manbin-bwoman-man‘person, people’ña-pañson-daughterña-pañson-daughter‘child, children’aps-basdgrandmother-grandfatheraps-basdgrandmother-grandfather‘grandparents’ami-gonmother-childrenbapi-gonfather-childrenami-gon bapi-gonmother-children father-children‘nuclear family, parents and children’kmn-asgame.mammal-small.wild.mammalkmn-asgame.mammal-small.wild.mammal‘wild mammals’kaj-kayn-kobtipig-dog-cassowarykaj-kayn-kobtipig-dog-cassowary‘large animals’kmn-kaj-kobtigame.mammal-pig-cassowarykmn-kaj-kobtigame.mammal-pig-cassowary‘animals that provide ceremonially valued meat’mñ-monvine-treemñ-monvine-tree‘land, country, territory, world’knebsleepingamebgoingowepcomingwoggardenwatifencegepmakingkneb ameb owep wog wati gepsleeping going coming garden fence making‘everyday activities’Fauna classification (folk taxonomy) in the Kalam language has been extensively studied by Ralph Bulmer and others.
Kalam speakers classify wild mammals into three major categories:[7] Other animal categories are:[7] Rodent names include:[6] Marsupial names include:[6] Reptile names and folk taxonomy in Kalam:[10] Frog names in Kalam are:[9] Note: Cophixalus shellyi, Choerophryne darlingtoni, and Oxydactyla brevicrus also tend to be identified by Kalam speakers as lk if calling from low vegetation, but as gwnm (usually applied to Cophixalus riparius and Xenorhina rostrata) if found in daytime hiding spots.