Guhu-Samane language

Guhu-Samane, also known as Bia, Mid-Waria, Muri, Paiawa, Tahari, is a divergent Trans–New Guinea language that is related to the Binanderean family in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005).

Guhu-Samane
RegionPapua New Guinea
Native speakers
13,000 (2000 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Sekare
Language codes
ISO 639-3ghs
Glottologguhu1244

The divergence of Guhu-Samane from other Binanderean languages may be due to extensive historical contact with Oceanic languages such as Numbami.[2]

Dialects

Smallhorn (2011:131) gives the following dialects:

  • Kipu (most widely spoken)
  • Bapi
  • Garaina
  • Sekare
  • Sinaba

The dialect differences are principally lexical, but two voiced obstruents also show regular variants. The coronal obstruent is realized as /dz/ upriver in Bapi and Garaina, /d/ downriver to Asama, and /j/ farther downriver in Papua. The voiced bilabial is realized as /b/ inland but as /w/ at the coast (Sinaba and Paiawa) (Handman 2015:102).

References
  1. Guhu-Samane at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Bradshaw, Joel (2017). Evidence of contact between Binanderean and Oceanic languages. Oceanic Linguistics 56:395–414.
  • Handman, Courtney. 2015. Critical Christianity: Translation and denominational conflict in Papua New Guinea. Oakland: University of California Press.
  • 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.
  • Smallhorn, Jacinta Mary. 2011. The Binanderean languages of Papua New Guinea: reconstruction and subgrouping. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Further reading


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