Eastern Trans-Fly languages

Last updated

Eastern Trans-Fly
Oriomo Plateau
Geographic
distribution
Oriomo Plateau, Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait Islands (Australia)
Linguistic classification Trans-Fly or independent language family
  • Eastern Trans-Fly
Glottolog east2503
Eastern Trans-Fly languages.svg
Map: The Eastern Trans-Fly languages of New Guinea
  The Eastern Trans-Fly languages
  Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Australian languages
  Uninhabited

The Eastern Trans-Fly (or Oriomo Plateau) languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages spoken in the Oriomo Plateau to the west of the Fly River in New Guinea.

Contents

Classification

The languages constituted a branch of Stephen Wurm's 1970 Trans-Fly proposal, which he later incorporated into his 1975 expansion of the Trans–New Guinea family as part of a Trans-Fly – Bulaka River branch. They are retained as a family but removed from Trans–New Guinea in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher.

Wurm had determined that some of the languages he classified as Trans-Fly were not actually part of the Trans-New Guinea family but were instead heavily influenced by Trans-New Guinea languages. In 2005, Ross removed most of these languages, including Eastern Trans-Fly, from Wurm's Trans-New Guinea classification.

Timothy Usher links the four languages, which he calls Oriomo Plateau , to the Pahoturi languages and the Tabo language in an expanded Eastern Trans-Fly family.

Languages

Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans (2018) are provided below. [1] Geographical coordinates are also provided for each dialect (which are named after villages). [2]

List of Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages
LanguageLocationPopulationAlternate namesDialects
Gizrra south Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) 1,050 Gizra Western Gizra and Waidoro ( 9°11′56″S142°45′32″E / 9.199001°S 142.758852°E / -9.199001; 142.758852 (Waidoro) ) dialects
Bine south Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) 2,000Kunini ( 9°05′29″S143°00′33″E / 9.091499°S 143.009076°E / -9.091499; 143.009076 (Kunini) ), Boze-Giringarede ( 9°03′39″S143°02′18″E / 9.06073°S 143.03836°E / -9.06073; 143.03836 (Boze) ), Sogal ( 8°56′24″S142°50′28″E / 8.93995°S 142.841073°E / -8.93995; 142.841073 (Sogale) ), Masingle ( 9°07′52″S142°57′03″E / 9.130976°S 142.950793°E / -9.130976; 142.950793 (Masingara) ), Tate ( 9°04′43″S142°52′39″E / 9.078728°S 142.877514°E / -9.078728; 142.877514 (Tati) ), Irupi-Drageli ( 9°08′07″S142°51′47″E / 9.135394°S 142.862977°E / -9.135394; 142.862977 (Iru'upi) ; 9°09′41″S142°53′32″E / 9.161472°S 142.892287°E / -9.161472; 142.892287 (Drageli) ), and Sebe ( 9°03′03″S142°41′54″E / 9.050889°S 142.698247°E / -9.050889; 142.698247 (Sebe) ) dialects
Wipi east Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) 3,500 Wipim, Gidra, Oriomo, JibuDorogori ( 9°01′47″S143°12′55″E / 9.029768°S 143.215139°E / -9.029768; 143.215139 (Dorogori No. 2) ), Abam ( 8°55′37″S143°11′28″E / 8.926818°S 143.19112°E / -8.926818; 143.19112 (Abam) ), Peawa ( 8°53′10″S143°11′31″E / 8.886084°S 143.192049°E / -8.886084; 143.192049 (Peawa (Woigi)) ), Ume ( 9°01′17″S143°04′10″E / 9.021446°S 143.069507°E / -9.021446; 143.069507 (U'ume) ), Kuru ( 8°54′07″S143°04′28″E / 8.901837°S 143.074435°E / -8.901837; 143.074435 (Kuru No 1) ), Woigo ( 8°53′50″S143°11′53″E / 8.897189°S 143.19818°E / -8.897189; 143.19818 (Woigi) ), Wonie ( 8°50′12″S142°58′28″E / 8.836602°S 142.974578°E / -8.836602; 142.974578 (Wonie) ), Iamega ( 8°46′07″S142°55′02″E / 8.768564°S 142.91733°E / -8.768564; 142.91733 (Yamega (iamega)) ), Gamaewe ( 8°57′17″S142°55′58″E / 8.954618°S 142.932798°E / -8.954618; 142.932798 (Gamaewe) ), Podari ( 8°51′46″S142°51′37″E / 8.862731°S 142.860353°E / -8.862731; 142.860353 (Podare) ), Wipim ( 8°47′12″S142°52′16″E / 8.786604°S 142.871224°E / -8.786604; 142.871224 (Wipim) ), Kapal ( 8°37′14″S142°48′56″E / 8.620541°S 142.815635°E / -8.620541; 142.815635 (Kapal) ), Rual ( 8°34′13″S142°51′22″E / 8.570315°S 142.85601°E / -8.570315; 142.85601 (Rual No. 1) ), Guiam, and Yuta dialects
Meryam Mir Australia: Torres Strait Islands of Erub (Darnley Island),
Ugar (Stephen Island), and Mer (Murray Island)
700 Meriam Mir Erub (no longer used) and Mer dialects

Pronouns

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto–Eastern Trans-Fly are,

I*ka exclusive we *ki
inclusive we *mi
thou*mayou*we
he/she/it*tabV; *ethey*tepi

There is a possibility of a connection here to Trans–New Guinea. If the inclusive pronoun is historically a second-person form, then there would appear to be i- ablaut for the plural: *ka~ki, **ma~mi, **tapa~tapi. This is similar to the ablaut reconstructed for TNG (*na~ni, *ga~gi). Although the pronouns themselves are dissimilar, ablaut is not likely to be borrowed. On the other hand, there is some formal resemblance to Austronesian pronouns (*(a)ku I, *(ka)mu you, *kita we inc., *(ka)mi we exc., *ia he/she/it; some archeological, cultural and linguistic evidence of Austronesian contact and settlement in the area exists (David et al., 2011; McNiven et al., 2011; McNiven et al., 2006; McNiven et al., 2004: 67-68; Mitchell 1995).

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words for Bine (Täti dialect), Bine (Sogal dialect), Gizra (Kupere dialect) and Wipi (Dorogori dialect) are from the Trans-New Guinea database. [3] The equivalent words for Meriam Mir are also included. [4]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. iřeʔu, iřeku, ilkʰəp for “eye”) or not (e.g. dřeŋgo, ume, yɔŋg for “dog”).

gloss Bine (Täti dialect) Bine (Sogal dialect) Gizra (Kupere dialect) Wipi (Dorogori dialect) Meriam Mir
headmopomoposiŋɨlmopʰkìrìm
hairede ŋæřimopo ŋæřieřŋenmop ŋɨsmus
eartablamtablamogublamyəkəpyagirip, laip
eyeiřeʔuiřekuilkʰəpyəřerkep
nosekekekekesiəkʰsokpit
toothgiřiʔuziřguptìrìg
tonguewætæwærtæuːlitʰvlatwerut
leger̃ŋeer̃ŋewapʰər̃kwateter
louseŋamweŋamoŋəmbɨnɨmnem
dogdřegodřeŋgoumeyɔŋgomai
pigblomweblomob'omborom
birdeřeeřepʰöyɑyyiebur
eggkukuuŕgupkʰɨpwer
blooduːdiuːdiəiwɔːdžmam
bonekaːkekaːkokʰuskʰakʰlid
skintæːpwetæːposopʰaigɨmgegur
breastnonoŋamoŋiamŋɔmnano
treeuliulinugupwʉllu(g)
manřoːřieřoːřiepʰamr̃ɨgakimiar
womanmagebemagobekʰoːlkʰɔŋgakoskìr
sunabwedžibimuabɨslomlìm
moonmřeːpwemabyemɛlpalmobimeb
waterniːyeniːyenaini
fireuloboulikobouːřpar̃aur
stonekulakulaiŋlkʰupglibakìr
nameŋiŋiŋiniːnei
eatwaː alodanina wavwinero
oneneːteřayepædər̃pʰanyəpanetat
twonenenineneniniːsnɨmɔgneis

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References

  1. Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 641–774. ISBN   978-3-11-028642-7.
  2. United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  3. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea" . Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  4. McNiven, Ian J.; Hitchcock, Garrick (2015). "Goemulgaw Lagal: Natural and Cultural Histories of the Island of Mabuyag, Torres Strait" (PDF). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture. 8. Retrieved 18 May 2022.