Mairasi languages

The Mairasi languages, also known as Etna Bay[1] are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher, that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They are named after Etna Bay, located in the southeastern corner of West Papua province, in Indonesia.

Mairasi
Etna Bay
Geographic
distribution
Etna Bay, Kaimana Regency, West Papua
Linguistic classificationOne of the world's primary language families
Glottologmair1253
Distribution of the Mairasi languages

Languages

The Mairasi languages are clearly related to each other.

Classification

Mairasi cannot be linked to other families by its pronouns. However, Voorhoeve (1975) links it to the Sumeri (Tanah Merah) language, either a language isolate or an independent branch of the Trans–New Guinea family.

Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for the Mairasi languages to be classified as part of Trans-New Guinea, though they do note the following lexical resemblance between Mairasi, Semimi, and proto-Trans-New Guinea.[2]

Mairasi ooro and Semimi okoranda ‘leg’ < proto-Trans-New Guinea *k(a,o)nd(a,o)C ‘leg’

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[3]

*m*n
*t*s*k
*mb*nd*ns*ŋg
*w*j

Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u. *ns is uncommon.

Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the free and possessive pronouns as:[3]

sgpl
1excl *omo, *o-*eme, *e-
1incl *e-tumakia, *e-
2 *neme, *ne-*keme, *ke-
3 *nani, *na- ?

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[3]

glossProto-Etna Bay
hair/feather*-suɾu
ear*ɸiɾa
eye*mbiatu
nose*-mbi
tooth*-ɾasi
tongue*-saɸia
foot/leg*-koɾa
blood*iseɾe
bone*tuɾa
skin/bark*(na)-kia
breast*joku
louse*kumai
dog*ansi
pig*[ɸ]embe
bird*sai
egg*ete
man/male*koɸo
woman*eɸei
sun*tende
moon*aŋgane
water*ɸat[e]
fire*iɸoɾo
stone*jaɸutu
path*kae
name*u[w]ata
one*tana-(kau)
two*amoi

Cognates

Basic vocabulary of Mairasi languages (Mairasi, Mer, Semimi) with cognate matches, from Peckham (1991a,b), quoted in Foley (2018):[4][5][6]

Mairasi family basic vocabulary
glossMairasiMerSemimi
‘bird’saisaisai
‘blood’isereiseremonad
‘bone’naturasinggunatura
‘breast’jogujogujogu
‘ear’navir andaneviraot navira[note 1]
‘eat’nenemannambaneneme
‘egg’eːteedeanggu ete
‘eye’nambutunembiatuombiatu
‘fire’ivoreivoroiforo
‘give’tomnaijannombonaiyomotomonai
‘ground’wasasaiwasasemakoro
‘hair’nasurunasurunasuru
‘hear’ivjemeivemeiveme
‘I’ʔomoomoomo
‘leg’naʔornakoraokor anda
‘louse’ʔumaikumaikumai
‘man’tatʔovoneum tatotatokovo
‘moon’unsirangganeanggane
‘name’nggwatawatanewata
‘one’tanggaunawazetanakau
‘path, road’ʔaekaekai
‘see’natomdaviomonondome
‘stone’javutuwavojavutu
‘sun’tendeunggurutende
‘tongue’nasavianesaviosavi
‘tooth’narasinerasiorasi
‘tree’ʔiuuʔu
‘two’amoiamoiamoi
‘water’fatakaifate
‘we’eːmeedumagaʔeme
‘woman’eveiwainiefei
‘you (sg)’ʔemekenekeme

Usher's protoforms of the 20 most-stable items[7] in the Swadesh list include the following.[3]

Proto-Mairasigloss
*kumailouse
*amoitwo
*ɸat[e]water
*-ɸiɾaear
 ?die
*o-moI
 ?liver
*-mbiatueye
*-ɸakahand/arm
*iɸi-hear
 ?tree
*uɾatufish
*u[w]ataname
*jaɸutustone
*-ɾasitooth
*jokubreast
*ne-meyou
*kaepath
*-tuɾabone
*-saɸiatongue

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[8] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[9]

glossMairasiSemimi
head neŋguvukotera
hair eŋguasanasuru
eye ne-mbutu-mbiato
tooth nerasin-erasi
leg oʔorookoranda
louse umaikumai
dog asiansi
pig bembepembe
bird saisai
egg eteaŋgu-ate
blood iseremonda
bone naturanatura
skin n-aiʔakakia
tree iwou
man tatovotatakovo
sun tendetende
water fatafate
fire ivoroiboro
stone javutujahutu
name negwatanawata
eat nenem-nenem-
one taŋggautana
two amoiamoi

See also

Further reading

  • Peckham, Lloyd. 1982. Mairasi verb morphology. Workpapers in Indonesian Linguistics 1: 75–96.
  • Peckham, Lloyd. 1991. Etna Bay survey report: Irian Jaya Bird’s Neck languages. Workpapers in Indonesian Languages and Cultures 10: 147–185.
  • Peckham, Nancy, Adriana Waryengsi, Esther Fov and Mariana Oniw. 1991. Farir Mairas na’atuei = Perbendaharaan kata bahasa Mairasi = Mairasi vocabulary. SIL.

Notes

  1. The exact phonetic values of <v> and <f> in Mer and Semimi are unknown.

References

  1. Usher, Timothy. 2020. Etna Bay. New Guinea World.
  2. 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.
  3. New Guinea World, Etna Bay
  4. Peckham, Lloyd. 1991a. Etna Bay survey report: Irian Jaya Bird’s Neck languages. Workpapers in Indonesian Languages and Cultures 10: 147–185.
  5. Peckham, Lloyd. 1991b. Mairasi phonology. Workpapers in Indonesian Languages and Cultures 10: 111–145.
  6. Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest New Guinea". 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. 433–568. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  7. Holman, Eric W., Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Viveka Velupillai, André Müller, Dik Bakker (2008). "Explorations in Automated Language Classification". Folia Linguistica, Vol. 42, no. 2, 331–354
  8. Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-B31
  9. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
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