Burmeso language
Papuan language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Burmeso language, also known as Taurap (from the word tauraf meaning 'language'),[2] by some 300 people in Burmeso village along the mid Mamberamo River in Mamberamo Tengah subdistrict, Mamberamo Raya Regency, Papua province, Indonesia. It is surrounded by the Kwerba languages to the north, the Lakes Plain languages to the south, and the East Cenderawasih Bay languages to the west.
| Burmeso | |
|---|---|
| Taurap | |
| Region | Papua: Mamberamo Raya Regency, Mamberamo Tengah subdistrict, Burmeso village on the banks of the Middle Mamberamo River |
Native speakers | (250 cited 1998)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bzu |
| Glottolog | burm1264 |
| ELP | Burmeso |
Burmeso forms a branch of Malcolm Ross's family of East Bird's Head – Sentani languages, but had been considered a language isolate by Stephen Wurm and William A. Foley.[3] The language has very distinct grammatical structure.[4] It has SOV word order.[3]
Phonology
Pronouns
Burmeso independent pronouns are:[3]
sg du pl 1 da day boro 2 ba bito
Nouns
Burmeso has six noun classes, which are:[3]
class semantic category 1 male humans and associated things (contains half of all nouns) 2 female humans and associated things 3 body parts, insects, and lizards; material culture like axes and canoes, some foods; many natural phenomena 4 mass nouns 5 the two staple foods: sago tree and banana 6 arrows, coconuts, and rice (traded items)
Burmeso nouns have three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.[5] Singular concordial suffixes are:
- -ab ‘masculine’
- -an ‘feminine’
- -ora ‘neuter’
Examples of nominal concordial suffixes in usage:
koya
grandfather
bek-ab
good-M.SG
‘Grandfather is good.’
asia
grandmother
ek-an
good-F.SG
‘Grandmother is good.’
Basic vocabulary
Basic vocabulary of Burmeso (singular and plural nominal forms) listed in Foley (2018):[3]
Burmeso basic vocabulary gloss singular plural ‘bird’ tahabo tohwodo ‘blood’ sar sarido ‘bone’ hiwraf himaruro ‘breast’ mom momut ‘ear’ ara ‘eat’ bomo ‘egg’ kahup kohuro ‘eye’ anar anuro ‘fire’ hor horemir ‘give’ i ~ o ‘hair’ ihna ihiro ‘leg’ ago agoro ‘louse’ hati ‘man’ tamo dit ‘name’ ahau ‘one’ neisano ‘see’ ihi ‘stone’ ako hiruro ‘sun’ misiabo misiado ‘tooth’ arawar araruro ‘tree’ haman hememido ‘water’ baw bagaruro ‘woman’ nawak nudo
Many Burmeso nouns display irregular and suppletive plural forms.[3]
gloss singular plural ‘man’ tamo dit ‘banana’ mibo mirar ‘dog’ jamo juwdo ‘pig’ sibo sirudo ‘white cockatoo’ ayab ayot ‘house’ konor konodo ‘mat’ wira wirasamir
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[6] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[7]
gloss Burmeso head agum hair ihiro eye jenar tooth araruro leg jago louse hati dog jamo pig sibo bird tohodo egg kohũp blood sar bone hiurap skin asi memiro tree haman man tamo sun misiavo water bau fire hor stone ako name ahau eat bomo one neisano two sor