Engan languages
Family of languages
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Engan languages, or more precisely Enga–Kewa–Huli or Enga – Southern Highland, are a small family of Papuan languages of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The two branches of the family are rather distantly related, but were connected by Franklin and Voorhoeve (1973).[1]
distributionNew Guinea
- North (Engan)
- South (Kewa–Huli)
| Engan | |
|---|---|
| Enga–Kewa–Huli Enga – Southern Highlands | |
| Geographic distribution | New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Trans–New Guinea or Papuan Gulf? |
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | enga1254 |
Map: The Engan languages of New Guinea
The Engan languages
Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited | |
Name
The name "Engan" is often restricted to the northern branch of the family, to those languages transparently related to Enga, but also sometimes to the family as a whole.
Languages
Classification
The Engan family constitutes a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Wurm and of Malcolm Ross, but the evidence for this is weak.
Usher links the Engan and Chimbu languages in a Central New Guinea Highlands family.[2]
There are a considerable number of resemblances with Wiru. Borrowing has not been ruled out as the reason for this, though the pronouns are similar as well.
Proto-language
Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[3]
*m *n *p *t *k *mb *nd *ŋg *w *l *j
Vowels are *i *e *a *o *u.
Pronouns
Pronouns are easy to reconstruct for the northern and southern branches, but much more difficult for Engan as a whole. Ross (2005) has the following for the singular, Wiru has been added for comparison:
pEngan N Engan S Engan Wiru 1 **nə *na-ba *ní no (gen. anu) 2 **ne-ke *ne-ba *ne-ke ne (gen. ne-ke) 3 ? *ba *[n]i-bu one
Usher (2020) has not yet published reconstruction of Engan as a whole, but has done Engan proper:[4]
Engan proper sg du pl 1 *na(-mba) *nali(-mba) *nani(-ma) 2 *ni(-mba) 3 *[e]-mba
Vocabulary
Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-Trans Enga (Proto-Engan) by Usher (2020) are:[3]
Modern reflexes
The Enga-Kewa-Huli reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma, if Engan languages are indeed members of the Trans-New Guinea family, are:[5]
Enga:
- mona ‘heart’ < *mundun
- yaka ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
- lyaŋa ‘ashes’ < *la(ŋ,k)a
- ŋaŋa ‘baby < *ŋaŋ(a)
- (m)ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
- kuri ‘bone’ < *kondaC
- kare ‘ear’ < *kand(e,i)k(V]
- ne- ‘eat’ < *na
- apa(ne) ‘father’ < *apa
- iti ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
- endo ‘fire’ < *kend(o,u)p
- lema ‘louse’ < *niman
- kana ‘moon’ < *takVn[V]
- mana ‘instructions’ < *mana
- kitama ‘morning’ < *k(i,u)tuma
- kumi- ‘die’ < *kumV-
- re- ‘speak’ < *nde-
- maa ‘taro’ < *mV
- ita ‘tree’ < *inda
Huli:
- ega ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
- na- ‘eat’ < *na-
- aba ‘father’ < *apa
- iri ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
- ira ‘tree’ < *inda
- ma ‘taro’ < *mV
Kewa:
- ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
- ibi ‘name’ < *imbi
- iri ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
- uni ‘bone’ < *kwanjaC
- apu ‘tail’ < *a(mb,m)u
- lema ‘louse’ < *niman
- oma ‘die’ < *kumV-
- reka- ‘stand’ < *t(a,e)kV-
- la- ‘talk’ < *nde-
- maa ‘taro’ < *mV
- yaa ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
- am ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
- ap ‘father’ < *apa
- mbi ‘name’ < *imbi
- ome- ‘die’ < *kumV-
Basic vocabulary
Basic vocabulary of Enga and Kewa from William A. Foley (1986). The pairs of words are not necessarily cognate.[6]
gloss Enga Kewa ‘two’ rama laapo ‘man’ akari ali ‘water’ ipa ipa ‘fire’ ita repona ‘tree’ ita are ‘leaf’ yoko yo ‘root’ pingi pitaa ‘house’ ada ada ‘breast’ adu adu ‘tooth’ nege agaa ‘bone’ kori kuli ‘ear’ kare kale ‘hair’ iti iri ‘leg’ kape aa ‘blood’ kupapu kupaa ‘hand’ ruma ki ‘egg’ kapa yaa apaa ‘sun’ nita nare ‘axe’ patama rai ‘netbag’ nuu nu ‘eat’ ne- na- ‘die’ kumi- koma- ‘say’ re- la- ‘give’ mai-/gi- gi- ‘big’ adake adaa