Trans-Fly–Bulaka River languages

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"South-Central Papuan languages" redirects here. For the proposed branch of the Trans–New Guinea family, see Central and South New Guinea languages.
Trans-Fly – Bulaka River
South-Central Papuan
(obsolete)
Geographic
distribution		New Guinea
Linguistic classificationProposed language family
Subdivisions
  • Bulaka River
  • Waia
  • Pahoturi
  • Yam
GlottologNone
Trans-Fly Bulaka River languages.svg
Map: The Trans-Fly–Bulaka River languages of New Guinea
  The Trans-Fly – Bulaka River languages
  Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Australian languages
  Uninhabited

The Trans-Fly – Bulaka River aka South-Central Papuan languages form a hypothetical family of Papuan languages. They include many of the languages west of the Fly River in southern Papua New Guinea into southern Indonesian West Papua, plus a pair of languages on the Bulaka River a hundred km further west.

The family was posited by Stephen Wurm as a branch of his 1975 Trans–New Guinea proposal. Wurm thought it likely that many of these languages would prove to not actually belong to Trans–New Guinea, but rather to have been heavily influenced by Trans–New Guinea languages. Malcolm Ross (2005) concurred, and removed most of them.

Classification[]

None of the families are closely related; indeed, it is difficult to demonstrate a link between any of them. Wurm's 1975 TNG branch included the following eight demonstrated families:

  • Kiwaian, on the banks and east of the Fly River
  • Waia, north of the Fly delta
  • Tirio, on the western bank of the Fly River
  • Eastern Trans-Fly languages, south of the Fly delta
  • Pahoturi, west of the Eastern languages
  • Yam, up to and just across the Indonesian border
  • Moraori, between Upper Maro and the Marind language
  • Bulaka River, west of Marind

Ross (2005) accepted the TNG identity of Tirio, Moraori, and, tentatively, Kiwaian. He split off the four Eastern Trans-Fly languages as an independent family. The remainder of the family, which he calls South-Central Papuan, is only tentatively retained: their pronouns are suggestive of a relationship, but this has not been demonstrated.

Trans-Fly – Bulaka River 
(South-Central Papuan) 
 

Bulaka River family

 
 
 

Pahoturi family

 
 

Waia isolate

 
 
 

Yam (Morehead – Upper Maro) family

 
 

A more conservative approach would break up Wurm's Trans-Fly – Bulaka River entirely, with two or three of the families remaining within Trans–New Guinea, and five or six being independent. Evans (2012), for example, argues that the inclusion of the Yam language at least is not justified on present evidence. Timothy Usher treats the Bulaka River and Yam languages as separate families, and links the Pahoturi– clade to the Eastern Trans-Fly languages.

Southern New Guinea linguistic area[]

A Southern New Guinea linguistic area, which spans both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, consisting of the following families is mentioned in Evans (2018).[1]

  • Yelmek-Maklew - 500 speakers
  • Yam (Morehead-Upper Maro) - 3,000 speakers
  • Pahoturi River - just over 4,000 speakers
  • Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) - 6,500 speakers
  • Trans-New Guinea (TNG)
    • Kolopom - just over 7,000 speakers
    • Marori - fewer than 20 elderly speakers
    • Gogodala-Suki - 30,000 speakers
    • Kiwaian - 37,000 speakers
    • Anim
      • Marindic - 10,000 speakers
      • Tirio (Lower Fly)
      • Ipiko (Inland Gulf)

Languages within the Southern New Guinea linguistic area generally share these typological features.[1]

  • lack of tone (except Kuni-Boazi, possibly Marind, and some Kiwai dialects)
  • complex verb morphology
  • limited or no gender (except for the four-way gender system in Anim languages, and the masculine vs. feminine contrast on undergoer-prefixes in the Tonda languages and some Oriomo languages)
  • lack of verb chaining or switch-reference
  • single-word verbs form an open class

Pronouns[]

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for the three families he keeps together are suggestively similar, but it has not been possible to reconstruct common forms:

Proto-Yam (Proto–Morehead – Upper Maro)
I/we *ni
you *bu
s/he/they *be
Proto-Pahoturi
I *ŋa-na we ?
thou *ba or *be you *-bi
s/he *bo they ?
Proto–Bulaka River
I *ŋöl we *ŋag
thou *ob you *el
s/he *ib they *im

Lexical comparison[]

The lexical data below is from the Trans-New Guinea database[2] and Usher (2020) (for Proto-Kiwai),[3] unless noted otherwise. Neighboring languages not traditionally classified within Trans-Fly–Bulaka River are also included for comparison.

Body parts hide
family language head hair ear eye nose tooth tongue leg blood bone skin breast
Trans-New Guinea Proto-Trans-New Guinea *kobutu; *kV(mb,p)utu; *mUtUna; *mVtVna *iti; *(nd,s)umu(n,t)[V]; *zumun *ka(nd,t)(i,e)C; *kat(i,e)C; *tVmV(d) *g(a,u)mu; *ŋg(a,u)mu; *(ŋg,k)iti [maŋgV]; *nVpV *mundu; *mutu *magata; *maŋgat[a]; *titi *balaŋ; *mbilaŋ; *me(l,n)e; *me(n,l)e *kani(n); *k(a,o)ond(a,o)C; *kitu *ke(ñj,s)a; *kesa *kondaC; *kwata(l,n) *gatapu; *(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu *amu
Komolom Koneraw wonderam cin dyan cire kan iri iŋar par
Komolom Mombum wondrum xu-sin musax-nam zix kaŋk iri itöx par
Yelmek-Maklew Maklew ala aweni opo köl wodo ehlel pu ase
Yelmek-Maklew Yelmek bemo yeyu opo köl wodo elweke pu ge momo
Yam Kanum mel mel-kata si tor tegu mbel mba:r keikei
Yam Yei kilpel peab cur ter cere gul gor pa:r
Karami Karami[4] epurupa kuse epegu wodi saku muta auni toki goni kebora bodoro
Gogodala-Suki Gogodala ganabi tita igibi tao mina poso mɛlɛpila gosa kaka omo
Kiwaian Proto-Kiwai[3] *kepuɾu *mus[ua] *gaɾe *idomaɾi *wodi *ibo(-nVɾV) *uototoɾo[p/b]e *sakiɾo *kaɾima; *sa[w]i *soɾo *tama *amo
Nature hide
family language louse dog pig bird egg tree sun moon water fire stone path
Trans-New Guinea Proto-Trans-New Guinea *niman *n(e,i); *n(e)i; *n[e]i; *yak; *yaka[i]; *yanem *maŋgV; *munaka; *mun(a,u)ka *ida; *inda ~ *iñja *kamali; *kamuli; *ketana *kal(a,i)m; *kamali; *takVn; *takVn[V] *nok; *(n)ok; *ok(u); *ok[V] *inda; *k(a,e)dap; *k(a,e)(n,d)ap; *kambu; *k(a,o)nd(a,u)p *kamb(a,u)na; *(na)muna; *[na]muna
Komolom Koneraw am ubui u baŋa to dzuwo mui war mate
Komolom Mombum am ipwi u konji yausil tu zawa mwe wad mete
Yelmek-Maklew Maklew dobuna ŋgat milom aebola aloŋ doyo olimu jü ake mate
Yelmek-Maklew Yelmek dobna num milom tötöli alo doyo alemu ju ete mata
Yam Kanum ne:mpin krar kwer sento bel per koŋko ataka mens melle
Yam Yei nim jeu becek yarmaker mekur per mir kao benj mejer
Karami Karami sugani kso giromoi kaimo sumari aimea kuwiri auwo mavio agabu ige
Gogodala-Suki Gogodala ami soke uai kadɛpa wi ila nabidi
Kiwaian Proto-Kiwai *nimo *[k]umu *wowogo *kikopu *nuk₂a; *kota *saɾik₂i; *si[w]io *sagomi; *owe *kobo *keɾa *(nok₂oɾa-)kopi *gabo
Miscellaneous hide
family language man woman name eat one two
Trans-New Guinea Proto-Trans-New Guinea *abV; *ambi *panV; *pan(V) *ibi; *imbi; *wani *na; *na- *ta(l,t)(a,e)
Komolom Koneraw nam ur gim-nugu tenamotere kuinam
Komolom Mombum nam ur nuku- te kumb
Yelmek-Maklew Maklew modin ŋeŋele oŋa -eio- mepola inage
Yelmek-Maklew Yelmek gomnek ŋadöl ŋa- ŋklala ina
Yam Kanum ire iu anaŋ namper yempoka
Yam Yei el-lu ore cenye nampei yetapae
Karami Karami sor kipa botie kipainoe
Gogodala-Suki Gogodala dala; dalagi ato; susɛgi gagi na
Kiwaian Proto-Kiwai *dubu *oɾobo; *upi *paini, *paina *oɾuso (sg.), *iɾiso (pl.) *nak[o/u] *netoa

See also[]

  • Trans-Fly languages

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b 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. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  2. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Usher, Timothy (2020). "New Guinea World". Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  4. ^ Flint, L. A. 1919. Vocabularies: Daru station, Western Division. Papua. Annual Report for the Year 1917‒18, 96. The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia.
  • Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.

External links[]

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