Grand Valley Dani language
Grand Valley Dani | |
---|---|
Native to | Indonesia |
Region | Highlands of Irian Jaya |
Ethnicity | Dani |
Native speakers | (90,000 cited 1990–1996)[1] |
Trans–New Guinea
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Variously:dni – Lowerdnt – Middna – Upperhap – Hupla |
Glottolog | gran1246 |
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]
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 |
front | central | back | |
---|---|---|---|
high close | i | u | |
ʏ | ʊ | ||
mid | e | o | |
low | a |
Notes[]
- ^ Lower at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Mid at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Upper at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Hupla at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) - ^ Compare Lani
- ^ 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.
- Dani languages
- Languages of western New Guinea