According to a 2000 census, there are approximately 4,500 living speakers of the language, who are split between twenty-two villages in the Almani district of the Bogia sub-district.
[4] There are variations in the Maia spoken between villages, but they can be generally categorized into two primary dialects.
[3] Other names for the language are Banar, Pila, Saki, Suaro, Turutap, and Yakiba.
The phonemic inventory of Maia is fairly small, as is typical of languages from Papua New Guinea.
[3] The second instance is more general: when there are two identical vowels adjacent to each other at the junction of two morphemes within any word, one is deleted.
[3] Maia is a synthetic fusional language, in which word-building is accomplished primarily through clitics and derivational affixes.
Maia does not have case markings, but does have agreement between nouns and their adjectives and between verbs and their objects.
Consonants in parentheses are typically included only if the word to which the clitic is appended ends in a vowel.
yawateru-parar=ga3S-on.top.of=LOC1ya u-parar=gawater 3S-on.top.of=LOC1'on top of the water'Abstract example: no-nor2S-INTPviolcurselovavanvery.goodonoD1u-podav=ga3S-under=LOC1no-nor viol lovavan ono u-podav=ga2S-INTP curse very.good D1 3S-under=LOC1'under your blessing'anuvtimeigur=gafive=LOC1kuvik=raother.side=LOC2duwa=gaone=LOC1anuv igur=ga kuvik=ra duwa=gatime five=LOC1 other.side=LOC2 one=LOC1'on the sixth day' (lit.
'Ma-ne=mate=waka,E-do=MN=LIMwi-nor3P-INTPnadachildmaiaPLbuAD1badakaallu-dogo=waka3S-straight-LIMlovavanvery.goodonor=akaINTS=LIMkatuenough/ableilika-mo=git.come.up-RL.1S/3P=CFT.Ma-ne=mate=waka, wi-nor nada maia bu badaka u-dogo=waka lovavan onor=aka katu ilika-mo=git.E-do=MN=LIM 3P-INTP child PL AD1 all 3S-straight-LIM very.good INTS=LIM enough/able come.up-RL.1S/3P=CFT.
These prefixes are appended in front of an adjective to indicate the possessor of the noun, as summarized in the table below.
The distinction between singularity and plurality is established with a difference in stress patterns.
[3] nanamtreeu-kabu3S-shortnanam u-kabutree 3S-short'short tree'These prefixes are also frequently, but not always, appended to verbs to indicate the recipient of an action.
An example of reduplication used to express augmentation, repeating the Maia word for 'good' ('lov') changes the meaning to 'very good' ('lovlov').
Lastly, reduplication can signal the diminutive form of a word, as in the case of 'isav' ('hot') and 'isisav' ('warm').
[3] Stress patterns are used to differentiate between 1st and 2nd person singular and plural inalienably possessed nouns.
The basic word order of Maia is SOV for transitive clauses, as illustrated by the transitive sentence example below:[3] Ii-nor1P-INTPawundogmaia=diPL=CTwatpigkanibigo-nor3S-INTPonoD1dibo-mochase-RL.1S/3PIi-nor awun maia=di wat kani o-nor ono dibo-mo1P-INTP dog PL=CT pig big 3S-INTP D1 chase-RL.1S/3POur dogs chased the/that very big pig.
(p. 57)The basic word order is SV for intransitive clauses:[3] AbaPlace/timekerek+an-a.darkness+say-RL.3SAba kerek+an-a.Place/time darkness+say-RL.3SThe place was/became dark.