Kwalean languages

Summary

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.

Kwalean
Humene–Uare
Geographic
distribution
Southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea: Central Province
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Glottologkwal1257

The Kwalean languages are spoken in Rigo District, Central Province, Papua New Guinea.[2]

Languages edit

The languages are Humene, Uare (Kwale) and recently extinct Mulaha. It is not clear if Mulaha was an outlier, or as close to the others as they are to each other.

Classification edit

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 HumeneUare and Mulaha.[3]

Proto-language edit

Phonemes edit

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory of Humene and Uare as follows:[4]

*m *n
*t *k
*b *d *g
*h
*w *j

The *k is rare.

Vowels are *i *e *ɛ *a *ɔ *o *u.

Pronouns edit

Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns of Humene–Uare as:[4]

sg pl
1 *ɛmɛ
2 *ɣa *ja
3 *ani *jɛ

Basic vocabulary edit

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 edit

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).

gloss Proto-Kwalean Humene Mulaha Uare
head raˈfune yoarowai vaˈdini; və'd·inɩ
hair *iku(va) iʔvuai yoroba 'iku; ˈiku
ear aˈbi akuru 'tʰɛɣʌ; ˈteɣa
eye *(u)bu(i)vi(ma) uˈbuma boivi uˈbuma; u'bumə
nose *ʒaʒore ʒaˈʒore ine ĵ ̟ʌ'ĵ ̟ɔre; ʒaˈʒore
tooth *vono(ne); *wano(ne) voˈnone waina (2?) ɣoˈnone; ɣɔ'nɔne
tongue maˈnane bebura maˈʒane; mə'j ̟ane
leg goˈenva koina ɔdʌ; ˈoda
louse *(n)omo(ne) noˈmone uˈmana noˈmone; 'nɔmone
dog *ɣuni ˈaba aba ˈaba; 'ɣunɩ
pig *aba (voni) aˈva batuvi 'ap·ʌ; (ɣuni) aˈvaɣa
bird *teboare (teˈbore) ˈiʔuva iguvi 'ninɩ; (nini) ˈikuɣa
egg *ma(va) ˈhava iakeki iˈsaɣa; 'maɣʌ
blood *ruu roˈo iˈaa iuː; ˈruˈu
bone *esi(ne) eˈhine inina ɩ'ine; iˈsine
skin *ahiri aˈhere kokava iaina a'hiṟʟ; aˈhiri
breast *n(a)u(ne) nuˈune kobaiba 'nune; nuˈne
tree iˈbado ire; 'ire
man *vaʒe oˈhoʒ; ˈvaʒe ohɔj ̟e; oˈhoʒe; ˈvaʒe
woman *no'ɣone noʔˈone tina 'lɔɣae; noˈɣone; roˈɣai
sky *adure aˈdure aˈdure
sun *mada maˈda bauwa 'madʌ; maˈda
moon *bato ˈbato vaisa ˈbato; 'batʰɔ
water *vou; *wara ˈvou vara ˈvou; vu
fire *ire ˈire boareki ireˈroga; ɩṟɛlokə
stone *hadi ˈhadi aroba 'had·ɩ; ˈhadi
road, path 'ibɩ
name *ni ni waa anu ni; niː
eat *anE- a-nE- inatu a-nE-; aᵘ ʔohe
one *teba ˈtebo pebogi ˈtiba; 'tʰipʌ
two *aheu a'heᵘ

Evolution edit

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

References edit

  1. ^ New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
  2. ^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
  3. ^ Wichmann, Søren. 2013. A classification of Papuan languages Archived 2020-11-25 at the Wayback Machine. In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313-386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.
  4. ^ a b c New Guinea World, Humene–Uare
  5. ^ Dutton, T.E. "Notes on the Languages of the Rigo Area of the Central District of Papua". In Wurm, S.A. and Laycock, D.C. editors, Pacific linguistic studies in honour of Arthur Capell. C-13:879-984. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1970. doi:10.15144/PL-C13.879
  6. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  7. ^ Pawley, Andrew; Hammarström, Harald (2018). "The Trans New Guinea family". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–196. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.

Further reading edit

External links edit

  • Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
  • (ibid.) Proto–Humene–Uare