Mailuan languages

Language family of New Guinea From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mailuan or Cloudy Bay languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken around Cloudy Bay in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.

Geographic
distributionSoutheastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea:
Central Province
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Glottologmail1249
Quick facts Geographic distribution, Linguistic classification ...
Mailuan
Cloudy Bay
Geographic
distribution		Southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea:
Central Province
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Language codes
Glottologmail1249
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Languages

The languages, which all share about half of their vocabulary, are,

Bauwaki–O'oku is closely related to the Mailuan languages.

Classification

Dutton (1971) said Bauwaki was a link to the Yareban languages. It has greater lexical similarity with Aneme Wake (Yareban) than the closest Mailuan language, Domu. Usher (2020) classifies Mailuan, Bauwaki and Yareban together.[1]

Magi shows evidence of language shift from an Oceanic language in many Oceanic words.

Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the proto-Mailuan–Yareban pronouns as:[1]

More information sg, du ...
sgdupl
1excl *na*ge
1incl *gu*i
2 *ga*ja
3 *e*ema
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Ross (1995) reconstructs the Mailuan pronouns as:

More information sg, du ...
sgdupl
1 *i*gu-*ge
2 *ga*[j]a*[j]a, *mee
3 *emu
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Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Thomson (1975)[2] and various SIL field notes, as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[3]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. kuma, uma, tuma for “louse”) or not (e.g. baka, ulim, muruu for “egg”).

More information gloss, Bauwaki ...
glossBauwakiBinahariMailu[4]Mailu
(Delebai d.)		Mailu
(Asiaoro d.)		Mailu
(Baibara d.)		Mailu
(Geagea d.)		Mailu
(Ilai d.)		Mailu
(Domara d.)		Morawa
head awarasolmoru; urumorumorumoruioruilolomorudin
hair i'irigitlimuuʔuruliʔimulimuʔuʔuruliʔimuʔurubo
ear omeofiopeʔopeʔopeʔopeʔopeʔopeʔopeope
eye ni'abaniiniiniiniiniiniiniininikaba
nose irulilimdurumudurumudurumudurumudurumudurumudurumudunun
tooth ni'omaʔagagina; maamaʔamaʔamaʔamaʔamaʔamaʔama'akisa
tongue meanakobagobagobagobagobagobagobagobagoba
leg doboroaᵘʔauʔauʔauʔauʔauʔauau
louse kumaumatumatumatumatumatumatumatumatuma
dog wa'aiwaʔaⁱwaaiwaʔaidariwaʔaidaridaridariva'ai
pig boroboroboraʔaboraʔaboraʔaboraʔatalaenatu
bird adauadaᵘmanumanumanumanumanumanumanuadau
egg bakaulimmuruumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔuunimi
blood danalalalalalalalalalalalala
bone i sagisakisakisatarakisakisakisairiga
skin ofeofiopiʔopiʔopiʔopiʔopiʔopiʔopiubu
breast amaⁱamahamaamaamaamaamaamaamaama
tree anaʔanaanaanaanaanaanaanaana
man emeɛmɛkʰegiegiegiegiegiegiegiemegi
woman avekaavehaavesaavesaavesaavesaavesaavesaaveha
sky nogaranogaranogaranogaranogaranogaranogara
sun evakabudiwaninaninaninaninaninaninarina
moon manabedebaʔaʰdoveledoveledoveledoveledoveledeveni
water ya'ayaʔahaʔaʔma; mamiʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaya'ama
fire yokɛueueueueueueubadaueu
stone omabagᵃbudi; nabua;
gomagomana		gomanagomanagomanagomanakoraukorao
road, path da'abalegaʰlaealaealaealaealaealaealaeanara
name ibiimomuomuomuomuomuomuomu
eat isikihiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiʔiʔaisi
one dim daiopmigauomuʔomuʔomuʔomuʔomuʔomuʔomuobumiya
two yarahaᵘřaavaʔavaʔavaʔavaʔavaʔavaʔavahauna
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Additional word lists can be found in Ray (1938).[5]

Evolution

Mailuan reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[6]

Mailu language:

  • ama ‘breast’ < *amu
  • maa ‘mouth’ < *maŋgat[a]
  • kisa ‘bone’ < *kondaC
  • tupa ‘short’ < *tu(p,mb)a(C)
  • guia ‘cassowary’ < *ku(y)a

Bauwaki language:

  • baba ‘father’ < *mbapa
  • idi ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
  • (ine) ibi ‘name’ < *imbi
  • iini- ‘sleep’ < *kin(i,u)-

References

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