Mailuan languages

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.

Mailuan
Cloudy Bay
Geographic
distribution		Southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea:
Central Province
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Glottologmail1249

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]

sgdupl
1excl *na*ge
1incl *gu*i
2 *ga*ja
3 *e*ema

Ross (1995) reconstructs the Mailuan pronouns as:

sgdupl
1 *i*gu-*ge
2 *ga*[j]a*[j]a, *mee
3 *emu

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]

glossBauwakiBinahariMailu (Ilai dialect)Mailu[4]Mailu (Delebai dialect)Mailu (Asiaoro dialect)Mailu (Baibara dialect)Mailu (Geagea dialect)Mailu (Ilai dialect)Mailu (Delebai dialect)Mailu (Domara dialect)Mailu (Darava dialect)Morawa
head awarasolilolomoru; urumorumorumoruioruilolomorumorumorudin
hair i'irigitliʔimulimuuʔuruliʔimulimuʔuʔuruliʔimuʔuruʔuruʔurubo
ear omeofiʔopeopeʔopeʔopeʔopeʔopeʔopeʔopeʔopeʔopeope
eye ni'abaniiniiniiniiniiniiniiniiniiniininikaba
nose irulilimdurumudurumudurumudurumudurumudurumudurumudurumudurumudurumudunun
tooth ni'omaʔamaʔagagina; maamaʔamaʔamaʔamaʔamaʔamaʔamaʔamaʔama'akisa
tongue meanakobagobagobagobagobagobagobagobagobagobagobagoba
leg doboroaᵘʔauʔauʔauʔauʔauʔauʔauʔauʔauau
louse kumaumatumatumatumatumatumatumatumatumatumatumatuma
dog wa'aiwaʔaⁱdariwaaiwaʔaidariwaʔaidaridariwaʔaidariwaʔaiva'ai
pig boroborotalaeboraʔaboraʔaboraʔaboraʔatalaeboraʔanatuboraʔa
bird adauadaᵘmanumanumanumanumanumanumanumanumanumanuadau
egg bakaulimmuruʔumuruumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔumuruʔuunimi
blood danalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala
bone i sagisakisakisakisatarakisakisakisakisairigakisa
skin ofeofiʔopiopiʔopiʔopiʔopiʔopiʔopiʔopiʔopiʔopiubu
breast amaⁱamaamahamaamaamaamaamaamaamaamaamaama
tree anaʔanaanaanaanaanaanaanaanaanaanaana
man emeɛmɛkʰegiegiegiegiegiegiegiegiegiegiemegi
woman avekaavehaavesaavesaavesaavesaavesaavesaavesaavesaavesaaveha
sky nogaranogaranogaranogaranogaranogaranogaranogaranogaranogara
sun evakabudiwaninaninaninaninaninaninaninaninaninarina
moon manabedebaʔaʰdoveledoveledoveledoveledoveledoveledeveni
water ya'ayaʔahʔaʔamaaʔaʔma; mamiʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaʔaʔamaya'ama
fire yokɛueueueueueueueueubadaueueu
stone omabagᵃgomanabudi; gomagomana; nabuagomanagomanagomanagomanagomanakoraugomanakorao
road, path da'abalegaʰlaealaealaealaealaealaealaealaealaealaeanara
name ibiimomuomuomuomuomuomuomuomuomuomu
eat isikihiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiisiʔiʔaisiisiisi
one dim daiopmigauʔomuomuʔomuʔomuʔomuʔomuʔomuʔomuʔomuʔomuobumiya
two yarahaᵘřaʔavaavaʔavaʔavaʔavaʔavaʔavaʔavaʔavaʔavahauna

Evolution

Mailuan reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[5]

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
  1. New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
  2. Thomson, N.P. "The Dialects of Magi". In Conrad, R., Dye, W., Thomson, N. and Bruce Jr., L. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 18. A-40:37-90. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-A40.37
  3. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  4. Saville, W. J. V. 1912. A Grammar of the Mailu Language, Papua. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 42: 397-436.
  5. 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.
  • Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
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