Kwalean languages
Language family in Papua New Guinea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kwalean or Humene–Uare languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.
distributionSoutheastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea: Central Province
- Papuan Peninsula
- Owen Stanley Range[1]
- Kwalean
- Owen Stanley Range[1]
| Kwalean | |
|---|---|
| Humene–Uare | |
| Geographic distribution | Southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea: Central Province |
| Linguistic classification | Trans–New Guinea
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | kwal1257 |
The Kwalean languages are spoken in Rigo District, Central Province, Papua New Guinea.[2]
Languages
Classification
Humene and Uare are quite close (70% basic vocabulary), Mulaha more distant (22% with Uare).
The Kwalean family is not accepted by Søren Wichmann (2013), who splits it into two separate groups, namely Humene–Uare and Mulaha.[3]
Proto-language
Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory of Humene and Uare as follows:[4]
*m *n *t *k *ʔ *b *d *g *ɸ *h *w *ɾ *j *ɣ
The *k is rare.
Vowels are *i *e *ɛ *a *ɔ *o *u.
Pronouns
Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns of Humene–Uare as:[4]
sg pl 1 *ɛ *ɛmɛ 2 *ɣa *ja 3 *ani *jɛ
Basic vocabulary
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[4]
gloss Proto-Humene-Uare Humene Uare hair/feather *igu ˈiʔu ˈiku eye *ubuma uˈbuma uˈbuma nose *jajɔɾɛ ʒaˈʒoɾe ʒaˈʒoɾe tooth *ɣɔnɔnɛ βoˈnone ɣoˈnone tongue *majanɛ maˈnane maˈʒane foot/leg *ɔda ˈoda ˈida blood *ɾɔo̝ ɾoˈo ˈɾoˈu bone *e̝tinɛ eˈhine iˈsine skin *ahe̝ɾe̝ aˈheɾe aˈhiɾi breast *nuunɛ nuˈune nuˈne louse *nɔmɔnɛ noˈmone noˈmone dog *ɣo̝ni βoni ˈɣuni pig *aba ˈaba ˈaba bird *ne̝ni; *t[e̝]b[o̝]ɾ[e̝] neni; teˈboɾe ˈnini egg *maɣa ˈmaβa ˈmaɣa man *wajɛ ˈβaʒe ˈβaʒe woman *nɔgɔnɛ noˈʔone noˈɣone sun/day *maˈda maˈda maˈda moon *batɔ ˈbato ˈbato water *wɔu ˈβou ˈβou fire/firewood *iɾɛ ˈiɾe iɾe stone *hadi ˈhadi ˈhadi path *e̝bi ˈebi ˈibi name *ni ni ni eat *an- an- an- one *te̝bɔ ˈtebo ˈtiba two *ahɛu aˈheu aˈheu
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from Dutton (1970)[5] (with additional data for Uare from 1988 SIL field notes), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[6] Proto-Kwalean reconstructions are from Ross (2014).
Note that the words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. nuune, nune for “breast”) or not (e.g. hadi, aroba for “stone”).
gloss Proto-Kwalean Humene Uare Mulaha head raˈfune vaˈdini; və'd·inɩ yoarowai hair *iku(va) iʔvuai 'iku; ˈiku yoroba ear aˈbi 'tʰɛɣʌ; ˈteɣa akuru eye *(u)bu(i)vi(ma) uˈbuma uˈbuma; u'bumə boivi nose *ʒaʒore ʒaˈʒore ĵ ̟ʌ'ĵ ̟ɔre; ʒaˈʒore ine tooth *vono(ne); *wano(ne) voˈnone ɣoˈnone; ɣɔ'nɔne waina (2?) tongue maˈnane maˈʒane; mə'j ̟ane bebura leg goˈenva ɔdʌ; ˈoda koina louse *(n)omo(ne) noˈmone noˈmone; 'nɔmone uˈmana dog *ɣuni ˈaba ˈaba; 'ɣunɩ aba pig *aba (voni) aˈva 'ap·ʌ; (ɣuni) aˈvaɣa batuvi bird *teboare (teˈbore) ˈiʔuva 'ninɩ; (nini) ˈikuɣa iguvi egg *ma(va) ˈhava iˈsaɣa; 'maɣʌ iakeki blood *ruu roˈo iuː; ˈruˈu iˈaa bone *esi(ne) eˈhine ɩ'ine; iˈsine inina skin *ahiri aˈhere kokava a'hiṟʟ; aˈhiri iaina breast *n(a)u(ne) nuˈune 'nune; nuˈne kobaiba tree iˈbado ire; 'ire man *vaʒe oˈhoʒ; ˈvaʒe ohɔj ̟e; oˈhoʒe; ˈvaʒe woman *no'ɣone noʔˈone 'lɔɣae; noˈɣone; roˈɣai tina sky *adure aˈdure aˈdure sun *mada maˈda 'madʌ; maˈda bauwa moon *bato ˈbato ˈbato; 'batʰɔ vaisa water *vou; *wara ˈvou ˈvou; vu vara fire *ire ˈire ireˈroga; ɩṟɛlokə boareki stone *hadi ˈhadi 'had·ɩ; ˈhadi aroba road, path 'ibɩ name *ni ni ni; niː waa anu eat *anE- a-nE- a-nE-; aᵘ ʔohe inatu one *teba ˈtebo ˈtiba; 'tʰipʌ pebogi two *aheu a'heᵘ
Evolution
Kwale reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[7]
- maɣa ‘egg’ < *maŋgV
- oda ‘leg’ < *k(a,o)ndok[V]
- nomone ‘louse’ < *niman
- ire ‘tree’ < *inda