Manubaran languages

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The Manubaran languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken around Mount Brown in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.

Manubaran
Mount Brown
Geographic
distribution
Mount Brown, southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea:
Central Province
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Language codes
Glottologmanu1261

Languages

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The languages are Doromu and Maria, and are 63% lexically similar.

Proto-language

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Phonemes

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Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[2]

*m *n
*p *t *k
*b *d *g
*s [*h]
*w *j

Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.

Pronouns

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Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as:[2]

sg pl
1 *na *[o/u]na
2 *ja
3 *ina

Basic vocabulary

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Usher (2020)

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Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-Mount Brown and Proto-Doromu-Koki, as well as Proto-Gebi and Proto-Maria, by Usher (2020) are:[2]

gloss Proto-Mount Brown Proto-Doromu-Koki Proto-Gebi Proto-Maria
head *ada *ada ada *ada
hair/feather(s) *u[w]e[t/k]a *u[w]eta uweta *u[w]eʔa
ear *anema *anema anema *anema
eye *ne *ne ne-una ne[ʔ]una
nose *uɾuma *uɾuma uruma *uɾuma
tooth *gade *gade gadi *gade
tongue *api[j]e *aɸi[j]e api *aɸi[j]e
blood *daweʔa *dawaʔa dawa *daweʔa
bone *nena *nena nena *nena
skin/bark *ɾoʔo *ɾoʔo lo-o *ɾoʔo
breast *sisu *sisu sisu *hihu
louse *gu[w]e *gu[w]e gu-e *gu[w]e
dog *auna *auna auna *auna
pig *dona *dona dona *dona
bird *eɾena *eɾena eerma *eɾena
egg *unema *unema unema *unema
tree *jabo *jabo iabo *jabo
man/husband *ami[j]e *ami[j]e amie *ami[j]e
woman/wife *ɾema *ɾema lema
sun *me[i]daʔa *me[i]daʔa meda *me[i]daʔa
moon *ejoʔa *ejoʔo e-io *ejoʔa
water/river *koɾu *koɾu oru ≈ koro- *ʔoɾu
fire *ita *ita ita *iha
stone *waʔiga waiga *waʔiga
path *ida *ida ida
name *ɾoka *ɾoka *ɾoʔa
eat/drink *iɾi- *iɾi- *iɾi-
one *jokohi *jokoi jokio *joʔohi
two *[ɾ/j]ema *[ɾ]ema lema *jema

Ross (2014)

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The following basic vocabulary words of Proto-Manubaran and lower-level reconstructions by Malcolm Ross (2014)[3][4][5] are from the Trans-New Guinea database:[6]

gloss Proto-Manubaran Proto-Doromu Proto-Maria
head *ada *ada *ada
hair *weʔia *ue-ta *ueʔa
ear *ane-ma *ane-ma *ane-ma
eye *ne(u) *ne(-) *ne-
nose *uru-ma *uru-ma *uru-ma
tooth *gade *gade *gade
tongue *afie *afie *ahie
leg *[n,y]u-ka *yu-ka *nu-ʔa; *one-ʔa
louse *gue *gue *gue
dog *auna *auna *auna
pig *Dona *dona *tona
bird *erena *erena *erena
egg *une-ma *une-ma *une-ma
blood *tava *tae(k,ʔ)a
bone *nena *nena *nena
skin *roʔ(o,a) *ro(a) *roʔ(o,a)
tree *yabo *yabo *yabo
man *amie *amie *amie
woman *rema *oue
sky *gure *gure *gure
sun *maida(ka) *meida(ka) *maidaʔa
moon *e(y)oʔa; *mohe- (?) *eoʔa
water *koru *koru *ʔoru
fire *ita *ita *ita
stone *fore *vaʔiga
name *roka *roka *roʔa-ba
eat *iri- *iri *iri-
one *yokohi *yokoima *yoʔohi
two *(ye)(ka)ma[nu] *re-manu *ye-ma

Evolution

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Maria reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[7]

  • ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
  • baba(e) ‘father’ < *mbapa
  • kuyaucassowary’ < *ku(y)a
  • ita(isa) ‘tree’ < *inda

References

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  1. ^ New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
  2. ^ a b c New Guinea World, Mount Brown
  3. ^ Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Manubaran. TransNewGuinea.org.
  4. ^ Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Maria. TransNewGuinea.org.
  5. ^ Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Doromu. TransNewGuinea.org.
  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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