Northern Adelbert languages

Northern Adelbert Range
Northern Adelbert Range
Adelbert Range – Isumrud Strait ; Pihom–Isumrud
Geographic; distribution	Adelbert Range, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Northeast New Guinea? Madang Central Madang Northern Adelbert Range; ; ;
Glottolog	grea1298 (Greater Northern Adelbert (Pick)); croi1234 (Croisilles)

The Northern Adelbert or Pihom–Isumrud languages are a family of two dozen languages in the Madang stock of New Guinea. The occupy the coastal northern Adelbert Range of mountains, vs. the Southern Adelbert languages, another branch of Madang.

Malcolm Ross posited a "linkage" connecting the Northern Adelbert languages with the Mabuso languages, and named this group Croisilles /krɔɪˈsɪlz/,^[1] as the two families bracket Cape Croisilles (Northern Adelbert to the north, Mabuso to the south). However, Ross never claimed Croisilles was an actual language family, and other researchers have rejected the connection.

Languages[]

Croisilles was first posited by Malcolm Ross (1995), not as an actual language family, but as a linkage. It was a merger of Wurm's Pihom-Isumrud-Mugil and Mabuso stocks, each of which contained 25–30 languages. Pick (2017) and Usher reject the merger, and provisionally the inclusion of Mugil (Bargam), though Pick retains the name. Usher disambiguates the (non-Mabuso) family as 'Adelbert Range'.

Usher (2020)[]

Timothy Usher classifies the languages as follows.^[2]

Adelbert Range – Isumrud Strait

Kowan (Isumrud Strait): Waskia, Korak (Amako)
(North) Adelbert Range
- Yamben
- Omosan (Omosa River): Pal (Abasakur), Kobol (Koguman)
- Gilagil River (old Isumrud proper)
  - Dimir (Gavak)
  - Brem (Bunabun), Malas (Manep)
- Northwest Adelbert Range ()
  - Kaukombar River: Mala (Pay), Miani (Maiani, Tani), Maia (Pila, Saki)
  - Kumil–Timper
    - Kumil River: Bepour, Mauwake (Ulingan), Moere
    - Tiboran River (Timper River): Musar; Wanambre; Kowaki, Mawak, Pamosu (Hinihon)
- Mabulap–Numugen
  - Amaimon (Mabulap) isolate
  - Numugen River (see)

Pick (2017)[]

A quite similar internal classification was worked out independently by Pick (2017).^[1] Pick could not establish regular sound correspondences with Kobol–Pal (Omosan) or Amaimon (Mabulap), and thus leaves them out of the family.

Northern Adelbert

Kumil–Tibor (*t- > s, *p- > f, *ŋ > zero)
- Tibor [*-n > zero, *a > e]
  - Mokati (Wanambre)
  - (*k- > h, *C- > [−voice]) Kowaki, Mawak, Pamosu, Hember Avu (Musar)
- Kumil [*k- *t- > , *C- > [−voice], *-k > zero]: Bepour, Mauwake, Moere
Kaukombar [*k- *ŋ *-n > zero]: Mala, Miani, Maiani, Maia
Manep–Barem [*-ŋ > n, *-g > ŋ, *wV > u]
- Manep (Malas)
- Barem (Brem)
Gabak (Dimir)
Numugen (*ŋ > n, 6 languages)
Amako–Waskia: Waskia, Korak

Pick notes that Barem and Malas share pronominal markers on the verbs 'to teach' and 'to show' that are unique to those two verbs.

Phonology[]

Pick reconstructs the phonemes of Proto-Croisilles as,^[1]

*m	*n	*ŋ
*p	*t	*k
*b	*d	*ɡ
*ɸ	*s
*w	l, r

with five vowels *a *e *i *o *u.

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Pick, Andrew (2017). "A Reconstruction of Proto-Croiselles Phonology and Lexicon". 23rd International Conference on Historical Linguistics. San Antonio, Texas, US. (video)
^ Adelbert Range – Isumrud Strait (NewGuineaWorld)

External links[]

Current research on the Madang languages by Andrew Pick

[pick-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Pick, Andrew (2017). "A Reconstruction of Proto-Croiselles Phonology and Lexicon". 23rd International Conference on Historical Linguistics. San Antonio, Texas, US. (video)

[2] Adelbert Range – Isumrud Strait (NewGuineaWorld)

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