South Bougainville languages
The South Bougainville or East Bougainville languages are a small language family spoken on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. They were classified as East Papuan languages by Stephen Wurm, but this does not now seem tenable, and was abandoned in Ethnologue (2009).
| South Bougainville | |
|---|---|
| East Bougainville | |
| Geographic distribution | Bougainville Island |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Subdivisions |
|
| Glottolog | sout2948 |
 Language families of the Solomon Islands. South Bougainville | |
Languages
The languages include a closely related group called Nasioi and three more divergent languages tentatively classified together under the name Buin:
Proto-South Bougainville
Pronouns
Ross reconstructed three pronoun paradigms for proto-South Bougainville, free forms plus agentive and patientive (see morphosyntactic alignment) affixes:
I we you s/he, they free *ni(ŋ) *nee DL
*ni PL*da SG
*dee DL
*dai PL*ba SG
*bee DL
*bai PLpatientive *-m *-d *-b agentive *a *o *i or *e *u - SG: singular; DL: dual; PL: plural
Lexicon
A detailed historical-comparative study of South Bougainville has been carried out by Evans (2009).[1] Reconstructed Proto-South Bougainville lexicon from Evans (2009):
- Proto-South Bougainville reconstructed lexicon
Gloss Proto-South Bougainville blood *ereŋ bone *kōna ear *rome eye *rutɔ fat, grease *titi guts *kō hand (arm) *komɔ head *bore knee *mī left (hand) *mɔre- liver *nonɔŋ neck *kuru nose *keni right (hand) *mē- tongue *meneŋ wing *kupɔ three *be- four *kɔre- ten *nɔraŋ brother (older of male) *batato brother (older of male) *tāta child *tōtō daughter (my) *norɔ father *bomɔ husband *bɔ[m,ŋ] man *nugaŋ mother *bōko person *nɔmm[e,ai] name *mīŋ son (my) *nuri wife *bana cloud *kɔmo dust *rɔmo garden *kɔti island *mɔto ocean *maira sand *piti(a) sea *piruŋ sky *pɔn(iŋ) smoke *ī sun *rua water *doŋ betelnut *mōti branch *āgu coconut (tree) *mou fruit, seed *tinaŋ leaf *pɔda mango *baiti sugarcane *tɔnɔŋ sweet potato (*ane) tobacco *buru tree *koi (tree) trunk *mono bird *bɔrege dog *masika eel *baramɔ fowl, chicken *kokore rat *koto bad *orara big *pɔn(n)ɔ black *muŋ[i,o] cold *kamari dirty *kumi far *iti- hungry *perɔ long, tall *iti- old *uri- sick *tipɔ thick *mōtu warm, hot *tɔkɔtɔkɔ white *kākɔtɔ fall *ru- flow *tū go *be- push *tūme put *ti- turn *bero- breathe, live *roma- cough *k(o)u- die *bō drink, eat *nai hear *tarɔ- sleep *ati- smell *nū- spit *tutu- suck *muti-
Austronesian influence
South Bougainville words of likely Proto-Oceanic origin:[2]
language family pig fence left fish back shark Nagovisi South Bougainville polo para akona- kalege vilo — Nasioi South Bougainville poro parang mare- taki bilo' — Buin South Bougainville uuru holo mori- iana muure paaoi Motuna South Bougainville huuru horo mori- koringi muuri pakoi Proto-Oceanic Austronesian *borok *bara *mawiri *ikan *muri- *bakiwa Torau Austronesian boo barabara mairi- iala mudi- vavoi Uruava Austronesian boro bara iana pou- bakubaku Mono-Alu Austronesian boʔo — karaka iana aro- baʔoi
Typology
South Bougainville languages have SOV word order, unlike the SVO Oceanic languages.[2]
See also
 |
Wiktionary has a list of reconstructed forms at Appendix:Proto-South Bougainville reconstructions |
References
- Evans, Bethwyn. 2009. Beyond pronouns: further evidence for South Bougainville. In Bethwyn Evans (ed.), Discovering history through language: Papers in honour of Malcolm Ross, 73-101. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
- Stebbins, Tonya; Evans, Bethwyn; Terrill, Angela (2018). "The Papuan languages of Island Melanesia". 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. 775–894. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- Structural Phylogenetics and the Reconstruction of Ancient Language History. Michael Dunn, Angela Terrill, Ger Reesink, Robert A. Foley, Stephen C. Levinson. Science magazine, 23 Sept. 2005, vol. 309, p 2072.
- Malcolm Ross (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages." In: Andrew Pawley, Robert Attenborough, Robin Hide and Jack Golson, eds, Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples, 15-66. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.