Kwerbic languages
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The Kwerbic, or Greater Kwerba, languages are a family of just under a dozen Papuan languages spoken in Indonesia.
distributionNew Guinea
- Foja Range (Tor–Kwerba)
- Kwerbic
| Kwerbic | |
|---|---|
| Greater Kwerba West Foja Range | |
| Geographic distribution | New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Northwest Papuan?
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | kwer1242 |
Classification
The Kwerba family is clearly established. Its closest relative appears to be Isirawa. Mawes is added by Ross (2005), but not retained by Usher; Isirawa was rejected by Ross, but retained by Usher and by Donohue (2002). Usher also adds Kapauri–Sause.
Capell (1962) proposed placing Kwerba and Isirawa in a Dani–Kwerba proposal, which was retained in Stephen Wurm's 1975 Trans–New Guinea phylum. Malcolm Ross (2005) removed them and linked them with another erstwhile branch of TNG in a Tor–Kwerba proposal. Usher follows Ross, but adds the Nimboran languages as well.
Foley (2018)
Foley (2018) provides the following classification.[1]
| Kwerba |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Usher (2020)
Usher uses the label 'West Foja Range' to avoid the ambiguity of the name 'Kwerb(a/ic)'.[2]
| West Foja Range | |
Basic vocabulary
Basic vocabulary in Kwerba family languages (Isirawa, Kwerba, Kauwera, Samarokena) listed by Foley (2018) is provided below. Data for Samarokena is limited, but clear cognates linking Samarokena to the other Kwerba languages include the words for ‘fire’, ‘man’, ‘stone’, and ‘sun’ (note that hV- is assumed to be an accretion).[1]
Kwerba family basic vocabulary gloss Isirawa Kwerba Kauwera Samarokena ‘bird’ apre kaijetin kaceten ‘blood’ asmɪra kumwa sac ‘bone’ awa kak kaka ‘eat’ na- nanam ‘egg’ cawarfa koret inəm mehinia ‘eye’ nuera nukwe nuk ‘fire’ aniva siraba ser hesida ‘ground’ u isiu esiu era ‘hair’ perisira nerij niric ‘I’ e co co ata ‘leg’ teni tɪnic tenij ‘louse’ negwan neːnun ‘man’ ɪ ana- ana ana ‘one’ mri aberias abic oha ‘penis’ taun tau taua ‘see’ warɪ- wa- uwarim ‘sky’ ono onis unis ‘stone’ bati ton ton obəta ‘sun’ sobe abij abic habesia ‘tooth’ wana kwanə kwan ‘tree’ warara ic ic ‘two’ napnɪ nenemwan ninic ened ‘water’ pu pitu pitew bipihina ‘we’ ne nino neno niːna ‘woman’ avi es is ‘you (sg)’ mɪ ame am ama