Usku language

Last updated
Usku
Afra
Region Usku village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency, Papua, Indonesia
Native speakers
20 to 160 (2007) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ulf
Glottolog usku1243
ELP Afra
Lang Status 20-CR.svg
Usku is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Usku, or Afra, is a nearly extinct and poorly documented Papuan language spoken by 20 or more people, mostly adults, in Usku village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency, Papua, Indonesia.

Contents

Wurm (1975) placed it as an independent branch of Trans–New Guinea, but Ross (2005) could not find enough evidence to classify it. Usher (2020) found that it was one of the West Pauwasi languages, though divergent from the other two branches of that family. [2] Foley (2018) classifies Usku as a language isolate. [3]

An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013) [4] found lexical similarities between Usku and Kaure. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Usku from Im (2006), quoted by Foley (2018): [5] [3]

Usku basic vocabulary
glossUsku
‘bird’rkwe
‘blood’misie
‘bone’kra
‘breast’mi
‘ear’bekria
‘eat’nggreka
‘egg’kri
‘eye’nifi
‘fire’yo
‘give’roti
‘go’rifri
‘ground’taʔ
‘hair’klekondia
‘hear’yukri
‘I’o
‘leg’nafu
‘louse’nimi
‘man’na
‘moon’menggrine
‘name’təkwar
‘one’kuskafi
‘road, path’tra
‘see’fra
‘sky’mumgre
‘stone’pani
‘sun’winene
‘tongue’bra
‘tooth’ninggre
‘tree’ninani
‘two’narse
‘water’a/æ
‘we’no
‘woman’ria
‘you (sg)’po
‘you (pl)’so

The following basic vocabulary words are from the Trans-New Guinea database: [6]

glossUsku
headflekle
hairflekle-kunda
earbeikli
eyenifi
toothneŋkle
tonguebra
legnafu
lousenimi
birdlokwe
eggkle
bloodkla; mise
bonekla; mi
skinninje; ninye
breastkiombra
treeweli
manmekenja; mekenya
womanjomia
sunnei
moonmeŋgerne
waterei
firejo; yo
stonepane
road, pathtra
eatkepo
onekisifaini
twonarna

Morphology

Usku morphology as inferred by Foley (2018): [3]

Sentences

Word order in Usku is SOV. [3]

Some of the few documented sentences in Usku are: [3]

(1)

e

3

wang

money

o

1SG

ai

father

se

DAT

roti-mo

give-TNS

e wang o ai se roti-mo

3 money 1SG father DAT give-TNS

‘She gave money to my father.’

(2)

e

3

kompong

village

se

DAT

rifli-mo

go-TNS

e kompong se rifli-mo

3 village DAT go-TNS

‘He went to the village.’

(3)

kɨnmar

person

kompong

village

e

ABL

duar-mo

come-TNS

kɨnmar kompong e duar-mo

person village ABL come-TNS

‘That person came from the village.’

(4)

kɨnmar

person

mra-mu

dog-ERG/FOC?

ya-mu

bite-TNS

kɨnmar mra-mu ya-mu

person dog-ERG/FOC? bite-TNS

‘The dog bit that person.’

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trans–New Guinea languages</span>

Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as parts of Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papuan languages</span> Indigenous language families of New Guinea and neighboring islands

The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian and non-Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan (non-Austronesian) speaking Melanesians as distinct from Austronesian-speaking Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.

The Sko or Skou languages are a small language family spoken by about 7000 people, mainly along the Vanimo coast of Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea, with a few being inland from this area and at least one just across the border in the Indonesian province of Papua.

The Senagi languages are a small family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They consist of the two languages Angor and Dera.

The Yuat languages are an independent family of five Papuan languages spoken along the Yuat River in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. They are an independent family in the classification of Malcolm Ross, but are included in Stephen Wurm's Sepik–Ramu proposal. However, Foley and Ross could find no lexical or morphological evidence that they are related to the Sepik or Ramu languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Solomon languages</span> Papuan language family of the Solomon Islands

The Central Solomon languages are the four Papuan languages spoken in the state of the Solomon Islands.

Elseng is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 300 people in the Indonesian province of Papua. It is also known as Morwap, which means "what is it?" ‘Morwap’ is vigorously rejected as a language name by speakers and government officials.

The Pauwasi languages are a likely family of Papuan languages, mostly in Indonesia. The subfamilies are at best only distantly related. The best described Pauwasi language is Karkar, across the border in Papua New Guinea. They are spoken around the headwaters of the Pauwasi River in the Indonesian-PNG border region.

The Demta–Sentani languages form a language family of coastal Indonesian Papua near the Papua New Guinea border.

Kembra is a South Pauwasi language spoken in Western New Guinea by some twenty persons in Kiambra village, Kaisenar District, Keerom Regency. It is used by between 20% and 60% of the ethnic population and is no longer passed down to children.

Pyu is a language isolate spoken in Papua New Guinea. As of 2000, the language had about 100 speakers. It is spoken in Biake No. 2 village of Biake ward, Green River Rural LLG in Sandaun Province.

Trumai is an endangered language isolate of Brazil. Most Trumai are fluent in languages of wider communication, and children are not learning it well.

Massep is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by fewer than 50 people in the single village of Masep in West Pantai District, Sarmi Regency, Papua. Despite the small number of speakers, however, language use is vigorous. It is surrounded by the Kwerba languages Airoran and Samarokena.

Molof is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 200 people in Molof village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency.

Murkim is a Papuan language of Western New Guinea, near its relatives Lepki and Kembra. Though spoken by fewer than 300 people, it is being learned by children. It is spoken in Murkim District, Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Papua Province, Indonesia.

Mawes is a Papuan language of Indonesia.

Yetfa and Biksi are dialects of a language spoken in Jetfa District, Papua, Indonesia, and across the border in Papua New Guinea. It is a trade language spoken in West Papua up to the PNG border.

Kimki (Aipki) or Sukubatom (Sukubatong) is a South Pauwasi language of Batom District, Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Papua, Indonesia. Foley classifies Kimki as a language isolate, although he notes some similarities with Murkim. Usher demonstrates a connection to the other South Pauwasi languages.

The East Pauwasi languages are a family of Papuan languages spoken in north-central New Guinea, on both sides of the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border. They may either form part of a larger Pauwasi language family along with the Western Pauwasi languages, or they could form an independent language family.

The West Pauwasi languages are a likely family of Papuan languages spoken on the Indonesian side of New Guinea. They may either form part of a larger Pauwasi language family along with the Eastern Pauwasi languages, or it they could form an independent language family.

References

  1. Usku at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. New Guinea World
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest 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. 433–568. ISBN   978-3-11-028642-7.
  4. Müller, André, Viveka Velupillai, Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Eric W. Holman, Sebastian Sauppe, Pamela Brown, Harald Hammarström, Oleg Belyaev, Johann-Mattis List, Dik Bakker, Dmitri Egorov, Matthias Urban, Robert Mailhammer, Matthew S. Dryer, Evgenia Korovina, David Beck, Helen Geyer, Pattie Epps, Anthony Grant, and Pilar Valenzuela. 2013. ASJP World Language Trees of Lexical Similarity: Version 4 (October 2013) .
  5. Im, Youn-Shim. 2006. Survey Report on the Usku Language of Papua, Indonesia. Unpublished report. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
  6. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea" . Retrieved 2020-11-05.