The Eastern Trans-Fly (or Oriomo Plateau) languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages spoken in the Oriomo Plateau to the west of the Fly River in New Guinea.
Eastern Trans-Fly | |
---|---|
Oriomo Plateau | |
Geographic distribution | Oriomo Plateau, Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait Islands (Australia) |
Linguistic classification | Trans-Fly or independent language family
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Glottolog | east2503 |
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 |
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.
Wurm had concluded that some of his purported Trans-Fly languages were not in the Trans–New Guinea family but rather heavily influenced by Trans–New Guinea languages. Ross (2005) removed the bulk of the languages, including Eastern Trans-Fly, from Wurm's Trans–New Guinea.
Timothy Usher links the four languages, which he calls Oriomo Plateau, to the Pahoturi languages and the Tabo language in an expanded Eastern Trans-Fly family.
Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans (2018) are provided below.[1] Geographical coordinates are also provided for each dialect (which are named after villages).[2]
Language | Location | Population | Alternate names | Dialects |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gizrra | south Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) | 1,050 | Gizra | Western Gizra and Waidoro (9°11′56″S 142°45′32″E / 9.199001°S 142.758852°E) dialects |
Bine | south Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) | 2,000 | Kunini (9°05′29″S 143°00′33″E / 9.091499°S 143.009076°E), Boze-Giringarede (9°03′39″S 143°02′18″E / 9.06073°S 143.03836°E), Sogal (8°56′24″S 142°50′28″E / 8.93995°S 142.841073°E), Masingle (9°07′52″S 142°57′03″E / 9.130976°S 142.950793°E), Tate (9°04′43″S 142°52′39″E / 9.078728°S 142.877514°E), Irupi-Drageli (9°08′07″S 142°51′47″E / 9.135394°S 142.862977°E; 9°09′41″S 142°53′32″E / 9.161472°S 142.892287°E), and Sebe (9°03′03″S 142°41′54″E / 9.050889°S 142.698247°E) dialects | |
Wipi | east Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) | 3,500 | Wipim, Gidra, Oriomo, Jibu | Dorogori (9°01′47″S 143°12′55″E / 9.029768°S 143.215139°E), Abam (8°55′37″S 143°11′28″E / 8.926818°S 143.19112°E), Peawa (8°53′10″S 143°11′31″E / 8.886084°S 143.192049°E), Ume (9°01′17″S 143°04′10″E / 9.021446°S 143.069507°E), Kuru (8°54′07″S 143°04′28″E / 8.901837°S 143.074435°E), Woigo (8°53′50″S 143°11′53″E / 8.897189°S 143.19818°E), Wonie (8°50′12″S 142°58′28″E / 8.836602°S 142.974578°E), Iamega (8°46′07″S 142°55′02″E / 8.768564°S 142.91733°E), Gamaewe (8°57′17″S 142°55′58″E / 8.954618°S 142.932798°E), Podari (8°51′46″S 142°51′37″E / 8.862731°S 142.860353°E), Wipim (8°47′12″S 142°52′16″E / 8.786604°S 142.871224°E), Kapal (8°37′14″S 142°48′56″E / 8.620541°S 142.815635°E), Rual (8°34′13″S 142°51′22″E / 8.570315°S 142.85601°E), Guiam, and Yuta dialects |
Meryam Mir | Australia: Torres Strait Islands of Erub (Darnley Island), Ugar (Stephen Island), and Mer (Murray Island) |
700 | Meriam Mir | Erub (no longer used) and Mer dialects |
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto–Eastern Trans-Fly are,
I | *ka | exclusive we | *ki |
inclusive we | *mi | ||
thou | *ma | you | *we |
he/she/it | *tabV; *e | they | *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 (David et al., 2011; McNiven et al., 2011; McNiven et al., 2006; McNiven et al., 2004: 67-68; Mitchell 1995).
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.[3] The equivalent words for Meriam Mir are also included.[4]
gloss | Bine (Täti dialect) | Bine (Sogal dialect) | Gizra (Kupere dialect) | Wipi (Dorogori dialect) | Meriam Mir |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
head | mopo | mopo | siŋɨl | mopʰ | kìrìm |
hair | ede ŋæři | mopo ŋæři | eřŋen | mop ŋɨs | mus |
ear | tablam | tablamo | gublam | yəkəpya | girip, laip |
eye | iřeʔu | iřeku | ilkʰəp | yəř | erkep |
nose | keke | keke | siəkʰ | sok | pit |
tooth | giřiʔu | ziřgup | tìrìg | ||
tongue | wætæ | wærtæ | uːlitʰ | vlat | werut |
leg | er̃ŋe | er̃ŋe | wapʰər̃ | kwa | teter |
louse | ŋamwe | ŋamo | ŋəm | bɨnɨm | nem |
dog | dřego | dřeŋgo | ume | yɔŋg | omai |
pig | blomwe | blomo | b'om | borom | |
bird | eře | eře | pʰöyɑy | yi | ebur |
egg | ku | ku | uŕgup | kʰɨp | wer |
blood | uːdi | uːdi | əi | wɔːdž | mam |
bone | kaːke | kaːko | kʰus | kʰakʰ | lid |
skin | tæːpwe | tæːpo | sopʰai | gɨm | gegur |
breast | nono | ŋamo | ŋiam | ŋɔm | nano |
tree | uli | uli | nugup | wʉl | lu(g) |
man | řoːřie | řoːřie | pʰam | r̃ɨga | kimiar |
woman | magebe | magobe | kʰoːl | kʰɔŋga | koskìr |
sun | abwedži | bimu | abɨs | lom | lìm |
moon | mřeːpwe | mabye | mɛlpal | mobi | meb |
water | niːye | niːye | nai | ni | nì |
fire | ulobo | ulikobo | uːř | par̃a | ur |
stone | kula | kula | iŋlkʰup | gli | bakìr |
name | ŋi | ŋi | ŋi | niː | nei |
eat | waː aloda | nina wavwin | ero | ||
one | neːteřa | yepæ | dər̃pʰan | yəpa | netat |
two | neneni | neneni | niːs | nɨmɔg | neis |