Goilalan languages

Language family of New Guinea From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Goilalan or Wharton Range languages are a language family spoken around the Wharton Range in the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea. They were classified as a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages by Stephen Wurm (1975), but only tentatively retained there in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005) and removed entirely by Timothy Usher (2020).[2]

Quick facts Geographic distribution, Linguistic classification ...
Goilalan
Wharton Range
Geographic
distribution
Wharton Range, Central Province, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classificationBinanderean–Goilalan[1]
  • Goilalan
Language codes
Map: The Goilalan languages of New Guinea
  The Goilalan languages
  Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Uninhabited
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Languages

The languages are,[2]

The languages are clearly related, especially northern Biagai, Kunimaipa, and Weri, which might be considered divergent dialects.[citation needed]

Pronouns

Pronouns are:

  • Northern: 1SG ne, 2SG ni, 3SG pi
  • Tauade/Fuyug: 1SG na, 2SG nu

Tauade also has the possessive pronouns ne-ve, ni-e.

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from SIL field notes (1973, 1975, 1980), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[3]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. ʒuvalo, kupal'iai for “two”) or not (e.g. gadolo, kepapaí for “ear”). Notice the very low number of cognate pairs.

More information gloss, Fuyug ...
glossFuyugTauade
head hul ha; ondobekɔrɔtɔ
hair are; hul halumaawutu
ear gadolokepapaí
eye hul li; imtavai
nose hul hunga; ungekiːtʰ
tooth hul usinɔtɔvai
tongue hul aseseaivi
leg sogalɔ'vai
louse hidautʰ
dog ho; oikɔveřa
pig ovopɔřu
bird nemba; nembekide
egg hulombomutuwu
blood tanail'iví
bone hudekeniví
skin hul hoda; odekɔtipai
breast hul dudadata
tree i'ieata
man a'a; anbaře
woman amu; amuriiva
sun evulivatava
moon hamaɔne
water ʒuipi
fire okie'na·m
stone zoevi'ti
road, path enamba; inambebɔřiƀařa
name ifaape'te
eat huni neneɔmei nai
one fidakɔne
two ʒuvalokupal'iai
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Evolution

Fuyuge reflexes of purported proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[4]

  • baba ‘father’ < *mbapa
  • sabe ‘saliva’ < *si(mb,p)at
  • magata ‘mouth, jaw’ < *maŋgat[a]
  • mele-pila ‘tongue’ < *mele-mbilaŋ
  • imu ‘eye’ < *(ŋg,k)amu
  • ije ‘tree’ < *inda

References

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