Grand Valley Dani language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grand Valley Dani
Native toIndonesia
RegionHighlands of Irian Jaya
EthnicityDani
Native speakers
(90,000 cited 1990–1996)[1]
Trans–New Guinea
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
dni – Lower
dnt – Mid
dna – Upper
hap – Hupla
Glottologgran1246

Grand Valley Dani, or simply Dani,[2] is one of the most populous Papuan languages in Indonesian New Guinea. The Dani people live in the Baliem Valley of the Western Highlands.

Dialects[]

Dialectical differentiation is great enough that Ethnologue assigns separate codes to three varieties:

  • Lower
  • Mid or Central, also known as Tulem
  • Upper

Lower Grand Valley Dani contains subdialects Lower Grand Valley Hitigima (Dani-Kurima, Kurima), Upper Bele, Lower Bele, Lower Kimbin (Kibin), and Upper Pyramid. Hupla, traditionally considered a separate language, is closer to Lower Grand Valley than the varieties of Grand Valley Dani are to each other.

Semantics[]

The Dani language differentiates only two basic colours, mili for cool/dark shades such as blue, green, and black, and mola for warm/light colours such as red, yellow, and white. This trait makes it an interesting field of research for language psychologists, such as Eleanor Rosch, investigating the Whorf hypothesis.

Phonology[]

The phonology of the Central Grand Valley Dani language:[3]

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p b t d k ɡ ʔ
Fricative β s ɣ h
Nasal m n ŋ
Lateral l
Flap ɾ
Implosive ɓ ɗ
Approximant w j
Vowels
front central back
high close i u
ʏ ʊ
mid e o
low a

Notes[]

  1. ^ Lower at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Mid at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Upper at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Hupla at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ^ Compare Lani
  3. ^ Nijhoff, Martinus (1966). Outline of Dani Morphology (PDF). Van Het Koninklijk Instituut Voor Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2019.
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