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 TransNew Guinea.

Kwalean
Humene–Uare
Geographic
distribution
Southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea: Central Province
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Glottologkwal1257

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 HumeneUare and Mulaha.[3]

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory of Humene and Uare as follows:[4]

*m*n
*t*k
*b*d*g
*h
*w*j

The *k is rare.

Vowels are *i *e *ɛ *a *ɔ *o *u.

Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns of Humene–Uare as:[4]

sgpl
1 *ɛmɛ
2 *ɣa*ja
3 *ani*jɛ

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[4]

glossProto-Humene-UareHumeneUare
hair/feather *iguˈiʔuˈiku
eye *ubumauˈbumauˈbuma
nose *jajɔɾɛʒaˈʒoɾeʒaˈʒoɾe
tooth *ɣɔnɔnɛβoˈnoneɣoˈnone
tongue *majanɛmaˈnanemaˈʒane
foot/leg *ɔdaˈodaˈida
blood *ɾɔo̝ɾoˈoˈɾoˈu
bone *e̝tinɛeˈhineiˈsine
skin *ahe̝ɾe̝aˈheɾeaˈhiɾi
breast *nuunɛnuˈunenuˈne
louse *nɔmɔnɛnoˈmonenoˈmone
dog *ɣo̝niβoniˈɣuni
pig *abaˈabaˈaba
bird *ne̝ni; *t[e̝]b[o̝]ɾ[e̝]neni; teˈboɾeˈnini
egg *maɣaˈmaβaˈmaɣa
man *wajɛˈβaʒeˈβaʒe
woman *nɔgɔnɛnoˈʔonenoˈɣone
sun/day *maˈdamaˈdamaˈda
moon *batɔˈbatoˈbato
water *wɔuˈβouˈβou
fire/firewood *iɾɛˈiɾeiɾe
stone *hadiˈhadiˈhadi
path *e̝biˈebiˈibi
name *ninini
eat *an-an-an-
one *te̝bɔˈteboˈtiba
two *ahɛuaˈheuaˈheu

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).

glossProto-KwaleanHumeneMulahaUare
head raˈfuneyoarowaivaˈdini; və'd·inɩ
hair *iku(va)iʔvuaiyoroba'iku; ˈiku
ear aˈbiakuru'tʰɛɣʌ; ˈteɣa
eye *(u)bu(i)vi(ma)uˈbumaboiviuˈbuma; u'bumə
nose *ʒaʒoreʒaˈʒoreineĵ ̟ʌ'ĵ ̟ɔre; ʒaˈʒore
tooth *vono(ne); *wano(ne)voˈnonewaina (2?)ɣoˈnone; ɣɔ'nɔne
tongue maˈnanebeburamaˈʒane; mə'j ̟ane
leg goˈenvakoinaɔdʌ; ˈoda
louse *(n)omo(ne)noˈmoneuˈmananoˈmone; 'nɔmone
dog *ɣuniˈabaabaˈaba; 'ɣunɩ
pig *aba(voni) aˈvabatuvi'ap·ʌ; (ɣuni) aˈvaɣa
bird *teboare(teˈbore) ˈiʔuvaiguvi'ninɩ; (nini) ˈikuɣa
egg *ma(va)ˈhavaiakekiiˈsaɣa; 'maɣʌ
blood *ruuroˈoiˈaaiuː; ˈruˈu
bone *esi(ne)eˈhineininaɩ'ine; iˈsine
skin *ahiriaˈhere kokavaiainaa'hiṟʟ; aˈhiri
breast *n(a)u(ne)nuˈunekobaiba'nune; nuˈne
tree iˈbadoire; 'ire
man *vaʒeoˈhoʒ; ˈvaʒeohɔj ̟e; oˈhoʒe; ˈvaʒe
woman *no'ɣonenoʔˈonetina'lɔɣae; noˈɣone; roˈɣai
sky *adureaˈdureaˈdure
sun *madamaˈdabauwa'madʌ; maˈda
moon *batoˈbatovaisaˈbato; 'batʰɔ
water *vou; *waraˈvouvaraˈvou; vu
fire *ireˈireboarekiireˈroga; ɩṟɛlokə
stone *hadiˈhadiaroba'had·ɩ; ˈhadi
road, path 'ibɩ
name *niniwaa anuni; niː
eat *anE-a-nE-inatua-nE-; aᵘ ʔohe
one *tebaˈtebopebogiˈtiba; 'tʰipʌ
two *aheua'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

  1. New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
  2. 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.
  3. Wichmann, Søren. 2013. A classification of Papuan languages Archived 2020-11-25 at the Wayback Machine. 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.
  4. New Guinea World, Humene–Uare
  5. 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
  6. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  7. 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. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–196. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.

Further reading

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