Mairasi languages
| Mairasi | |
|---|---|
| Etna Bay | |
| Geographic distribution | Etna Bay, Kaimana Regency, West Papua |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Glottolog | mair1253 |
 Distribution of the 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.
Languages
[edit]The Mairasi languages are clearly related to each other.
- Mairasi family: Semimi, Mer, Mairasi, Northeastern Mairasi
Classification
[edit]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
[edit]Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[3]
*m *n *ɸ *t *s *k *mb *nd *ns *ŋg *w *ɾ *j
Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u. *ns is uncommon.
Pronouns
[edit]Usher (2020) reconstructs the free and possessive pronouns as:[3]
sg pl 1excl *omo, *o- *eme, *e- 1incl *e-tumakia, *e- 2 *neme, *ne- *keme, *ke- 3 *nani, *na- ?
Basic vocabulary
[edit]Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[3]
gloss Proto-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
[edit]Usher's protoforms of the 20 most-stable items[4] in the Swadesh list include the following.[3]
Proto-Mairasi gloss *kumai louse *amoi two *ɸat[e] water *-ɸiɾa ear ? die *o-mo I ? liver *-mbiatu eye *-ɸaka hand/arm *iɸi- hear ? tree *uɾatu fish *u[w]ata name *jaɸutu stone *-ɾasi tooth *joku breast *ne-me you *kae path *-tuɾa bone *-saɸia tongue
Vocabulary comparison
[edit]The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[5] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[6]
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. ne-mbutu, -mbiato for “eye”) or not (e.g. neŋguvu, kotera for “head”).
gloss Mairasi Semimi head neŋguvu kotera hair eŋguasa nasuru eye ne-mbutu -mbiato tooth nerasi n-erasi leg oʔoro okoranda louse umai kumai dog asi ansi pig bembe pembe bird sai sai egg ete aŋgu-ate blood isere monda bone natura natura skin n-aiʔa kakia tree iwo u man tatovo tatakovo sun tende tende water fata fate fire ivoro iboro stone javutu jahutu name negwata nawata eat nenem- nenem- one taŋggau tana two amoi amoi
See also
[edit]
Further reading
[edit]- 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
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Usher, Timothy. 2020. Etna Bay. New Guinea World.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d New Guinea World, Etna Bay
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
External links
[edit]- Mairasi languages database at TransNewGuinea.org
- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Etna Bay