South Bird's Head languages

The South Bird's Head or South Doberai languages are three families of Papuan languages. They form part of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Malcolm Ross (2005) and Timothy Usher (2020), though Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider them to be part of Trans–New Guinea.[1]

South Bird's Head
South Doberai
North Berau Gulf
(disputed)
Geographic
distribution
West Papua
Linguistic classification? Trans–New Guinea
Subdivisions
GlottologNone
Map: The South Bird's Head languages of New Guinea
  The South Bird's Head languages
  Other Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Uninhabited

Languages

The languages are as follows,[2][3][1]

Noting low cognacy rates, Holton and Klamer (2018) tentatively consider the following three language groups to each be independent language families, pending further evidence.[4]

Usher classifies the South Bird's Head languages as part of a wider Berau Gulf branch of Trans–New Guinea.[2]

Pronouns

The pronouns are:

sgpl
1ex *na*ni-ri, *i-ri
1in *na-ri, *ya-ri
2 *a*a-ri, *i-ri

3sg *ni is reconstructable for SBH proper. There appears to be both a plural vowel change from *a to *i, as in proto-TNG, and a plural suffix *-ri.

Cognates

Below are cognates in Nuclear South Bird's Head languages (Arandai, Kokoda, Kemberano, Kaburi, Kais, Puragi) demonstrating their relatedness, as listed by Holton & Klamer (2018):[4]

Nuclear South Bird's Head family cognates
glossArandaiKokodaKemberanoKaburiKaisPuragi
‘eye’emagomagomaguamiagumaguimagu
‘head’kabekabakabewa’avakabokoibi
‘egg’kuoukwookuukoukuvuko
‘one’onateonasiaanatema’ajaonatemo’onata
‘two’ogiogiaogeugeugeoge
‘I’nendinedinedinerinerinedi

South Bird's Head basic vocabulary quoted by Holton & Klamer (2018)[4] from de Vries (2004), showing diverse non-cognate vocabulary across different language groups:[5]

South Bird's Head basic vocabulary comparison
glossYahadianInanwatanKokodaPuragi
arm/handreewóoboranebɔru
leg/footdɛbɛɔtɔraneʔɔru
houseɔmeʔárokɛniaeinɔ
goodhɔbɔresówatonigejanai/najɔ
dogɟiaméwoʔodawɔrarɔga
pigmɔmɔbidótabaiβuʔi
chickenkokoroádirokokokorau
louseʔótokɔnɔkɔnɔ
water/riverhɛdɛ/mutó/múrotai/tɔiriaadɔna/ɔwedi
bananahuŋgunɔnɸúgi(do)udiamimi

Morphology

Except for the outlier languages Konda and Yahadian, all South Bird's Head languages have nouns classified according to masculine and feminine genders, which are determined with final vowel quality.[4] West Bird's Head languages also mark nouns for gender.

Syntax

Unlike many other languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula which display SVO word order (such as Abun, Mpur, Maibrat, West Bird's Head, and others), the South Bird's Head languages have SOV word order.[4]:588–590

References

  1. 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.
  2. Usher, Timothy. New Guinea World, North Berau Gulf
  3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2019). "Glottolog". 4.0. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian (2018). "The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird's Head". 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. 569–640. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  5. de Vries, Lourens. 2004. A Short Grammar of Inanwatan: An endangered language of the Bird’s Head of Papua, Indonesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  • 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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