Eastern Trans-Fly languages

Language family of New Guinea From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eastern Trans-Fly (or Oriomo) languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages spoken in the Oriomo Plateau to the west of the Fly River in New Guinea.

Quick facts Geographic distribution, Linguistic classification ...
Eastern Trans-Fly
Oriomo
Geographic
distribution
Oriomo Plateau, Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait Islands (Australia)
Linguistic classificationTrans-Fly or independent language family
  • Eastern Trans-Fly
Language codes
Glottologeast2503
Map: The Eastern Trans-Fly languages of New Guinea
  The Eastern Trans-Fly languages
  Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Australian languages
  Uninhabited
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Classification

The languages constituted a branch of Stephen Wurm's 1970 Trans-Fly proposal, which he later incorporated into his 1975 expansion of the Trans–New Guinea family as part of a Trans-Fly – Bulaka River branch. They are retained as a family but removed from Trans–New Guinea in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher.[who?]

Wurm had determined that some of the languages he classified as Trans-Fly were not actually part of the Trans-New Guinea family but were instead heavily influenced by Trans-New Guinea languages. In 2005, Ross removed most of these languages, including Eastern Trans-Fly, from Wurm's Trans-New Guinea classification.[1]

Timothy Usher[citation needed] links the four languages, which he calls Oriomo Plateau, to the Pahoturi languages and the Tabo language in an expanded Eastern Trans-Fly family.[clarification needed]

Languages

Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans et al. (2018) are provided below.[2] Geographical coordinates are also provided for each dialect (which are named after villages).[3]

More information Language, Location ...
List of Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages
LanguageLocationPopulationAlternate namesDialects
Gizrrasouth Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea)1,050GizraWestern Gizra and Waidoro (9.199001°S 142.758852°E / -9.199001; 142.758852 (Waidoro)) dialects
Binesouth Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea)2,000Kunini (9.091499°S 143.009076°E / -9.091499; 143.009076 (Kunini)), Boze-Giringarede (9.06073°S 143.03836°E / -9.06073; 143.03836 (Boze)), Sogal (8.93995°S 142.841073°E / -8.93995; 142.841073 (Sogale)), Masingle (9.130976°S 142.950793°E / -9.130976; 142.950793 (Masingara)), Tate (9.078728°S 142.877514°E / -9.078728; 142.877514 (Tati)), Irupi-Drageli (9.135394°S 142.862977°E / -9.135394; 142.862977 (Iru'upi); 9.161472°S 142.892287°E / -9.161472; 142.892287 (Drageli)), and Sebe (9.050889°S 142.698247°E / -9.050889; 142.698247 (Sebe)) dialects
Wipieast Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea)3,500Wipim, Gidra, Oriomo, JibuDorogori (9.029768°S 143.215139°E / -9.029768; 143.215139 (Dorogori No. 2)), Abam (8.926818°S 143.19112°E / -8.926818; 143.19112 (Abam)), Peawa (8.886084°S 143.192049°E / -8.886084; 143.192049 (Peawa (Woigi))), Ume (9.021446°S 143.069507°E / -9.021446; 143.069507 (U'ume)), Kuru (8.901837°S 143.074435°E / -8.901837; 143.074435 (Kuru No 1)), Woigo (8.897189°S 143.19818°E / -8.897189; 143.19818 (Woigi)), Wonie (8.836602°S 142.974578°E / -8.836602; 142.974578 (Wonie)), Iamega (8.768564°S 142.91733°E / -8.768564; 142.91733 (Yamega (iamega))), Gamaewe (8.954618°S 142.932798°E / -8.954618; 142.932798 (Gamaewe)), Podari (8.862731°S 142.860353°E / -8.862731; 142.860353 (Podare)), Wipim (8.786604°S 142.871224°E / -8.786604; 142.871224 (Wipim)), Kapal (8.620541°S 142.815635°E / -8.620541; 142.815635 (Kapal)), Rual (8.570315°S 142.85601°E / -8.570315; 142.85601 (Rual No. 1)), Guiam, and Yuta dialects
Meryam MirAustralia: Torres Strait Islands of Erub (Darnley Island),
Ugar (Stephen Island), and Mer (Murray Island)
700Meriam MirErub (no longer used) and Mer dialects
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Pronouns

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto–Eastern Trans-Fly are:

I*kaexclusive we*ki
inclusive we*mi
thou*mayou*we
he/she/it*tabV; *ethey*tepi

There is a possibility of a connection here to Trans–New Guinea. If the inclusive pronoun is historically a second-person form, then there would appear to be i-ablaut for the plural: *ka~ki, **ma~mi, **tapa~tapi. This is similar to the ablaut reconstructed for TNG (*na~ni, *ga~gi). Although the pronouns themselves are dissimilar, ablaut is not likely to be borrowed. On the other hand, there is some formal resemblance to Austronesian pronouns (*(a)ku I, *(ka)mu you, *kita we inc., *(ka)mi we exc., *ia he/she/it; some archeological, cultural and linguistic evidence of Austronesian contact and settlement in the area exists.[4][5][6][7]

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words for Bine (Täti dialect), Bine (Sogal dialect), Gizra (Kupere dialect) and Wipi (Dorogori dialect) are from the Trans-New Guinea database.[8] The equivalent words for Meriam Mir are also included.[9]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. iřeʔu, iřeku, ilkʰəp for “eye”) or not (e.g. dřeŋgo, ume, yɔŋg for “dog”).

More information gloss, Bine (Täti dialect) ...
glossBine (Täti dialect)Bine (Sogal dialect)Gizra (Kupere dialect)Wipi (Dorogori dialect)Meriam Mir
head mopomoposiŋɨlmopʰkìrìm
hair ede ŋæřimopo ŋæřieřŋenmop ŋɨsmus
ear tablamtablamogublamyəkəpyagirip, laip
eye iřeʔuiřekuilkʰəpyəřerkep
nose kekekekesiəkʰsokpit
tooth giřiʔuziřguptìrìg
tongue wætæwærtæuːlitʰvlatwerut
leg er̃ŋeer̃ŋewapʰər̃kwateter
louse ŋamweŋamoŋəmbɨnɨmnem
dog dřegodřeŋgoumeyɔŋgomai
pig blomweblomob'omborom
bird eřeeřepʰöyɑyyiebur
egg kukuuŕgupkʰɨpwer
blood uːdiuːdiəiwɔːdžmam
bone kaːkekaːkokʰuskʰakʰlid
skin tæːpwetæːposopʰaigɨmgegur
breast nonoŋamoŋiamŋɔmnano
tree uliulinugupwʉllu(g)
man řoːřieřoːřiepʰamr̃ɨgakimiar
woman magebemagobekʰoːlkʰɔŋgakoskìr
sun abwedžibimuabɨslomlìm
moon mřeːpwemabyemɛlpalmobimeb
water niːyeniːyenaini
fire uloboulikobouːřpar̃aur
stone kulakulaiŋlkʰupglibakìr
name ŋiŋiŋiniːnei
eat waː alodanina wavwinero
one neːteřayepædər̃pʰanyəpanetat
two nenenineneniniːsnɨmɔgneis
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References

Further reading

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