Kwalean languages
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 classification | Trans–New Guinea
|
| Glottolog | kwal1257 |
The Kwalean languages are spoken in Rigo District, Central Province, Papua New Guinea.[2]
Languages
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
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).
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
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
- New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
- 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.
- Wichmann, Søren. 2013. A classification of Papuan languages. 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.
- New Guinea World, Humene–Uare
- 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
- Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- 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. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–196. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
Further reading
- Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Kwalean. TransNewGuinea.org.