East New Britain languages
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distributionGazelle Peninsula, New Britain
| East New Britain | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain |
| Ethnicity | Baining people |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | None |
The East New Britain languages are a possible small language family spoken on the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. They were classified as East Papuan languages by Wurm, but this does not now seem tenable. The only comparative work that has been done between the two branches of the proposed family is Ross (2001), which shows similarities in the pronouns.
The languages are:[citation needed]
- Baining: Mali, Qaqet, Kairak, Simbali, Ura, ?Makolkol (extinct?)
- Taulil–Butam: Taulil, Butam (extinct)
Makolkol is unattested.
Glottolog does not accept that a connection between the two branches has been demonstrated.[1] Stebbins et al. (2018) note that further work needs to be done, and are uncertain how to explain the similarity in pronouns between the two families with the fact that the ancestors of the Taulil and Butam people had migrated from New Ireland and so presumably would have their closest relatives there.[2]
Pronouns
The pronouns Ross (2001) compares for East New Britain are as follows.
1SG 2SG 3MSG 3FSG 1PL 2PL 3PL 1DU 2DU 3DU proto-ENB *ŋ(u)a *ŋi(a) *a *E *(d)udu *ŋan(i) *ta *Nun *(y)u *i Baining free ŋua ŋia ka ki uut ŋen ta~ra uun uin ian~iam POSS gua gia aa Taulil free SBJ ŋa ŋi aa e daa yaa taa ŋu yu i~ip (3MDU), vitam (3FDU) OBJ ŋaaŋ ŋiŋ aa e undu ŋan taa ŋun yu ip (3MDU), vitam (3FDU) POSS ŋa ŋi vaa ve du ina ina~ta ŋunu yu ip (3MDU), ito (3FDU) Butam free ŋa ŋi a e ur ŋan ta~ra un yu ip POSS ŋaŋ ŋiŋ vat vet (r)uru ŋan (i)ra (n)un ... ip