- South-Central Papuan languages
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For the Trans–New Guinea languages, see Central and South New Guinea languages.
South-Central Papuan (tentative) Geographic
distribution:New Guinea Linguistic classification: a primary family of Papuan languages Subdivisions: Bulaka RiverPahoturiThe South-Central Papuan languages are a hypothetical family of Papuan languages proposed in 2005 by Malcolm Ross. It inherits much of the Trans-Fly – Bulaka River family posited by Stephen Wurm as a branch of his 1975 Trans–New Guinea proposal. Wurm himself concluded that some of the Trans-Fly – Bulaka River languages were not Trans–New Guinea but rather heavily influenced by Trans–New Guinea languages. Ross concurred and removed the South-Central Papuan and Eastern Trans-Fly branches from Wurm's family, leaving only Tirio, Kiwaian, and Moraori within Trans–New Guinea, and the Trans–New Guinea identity of Kiwaian suspect.
Contents
Classification
The three South-Central Papuan families are only distantly related. Ross (2005) places them only tentatively together. A more conservative approach would postulate three independent stocks.
South-Central Papuan Bulaka River family: Yelmek, Maklew
Pahoturi family: Agöb (Dabu), Idi [a dialect chain]
Waia
Morehead –
Upper MaroKanum (varieties have difficult intelligibility)
Yey
Nambu: Namo (Dorro), Nambo (Nambu), Neme, Namat, Nama, Nen
Tonda: Anta, Arammba, Blafe, Guntai, Kánchá, Kómnjo, Rema, Wára, Wéré
Pronouns
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for the three families are,
- Proto–Morehead – Upper Maro
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I/we *ni you *bu s/he/they *be
- Proto-Pahoturi
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I *ŋa-na we ? thou *ba or *be you *-bi s/he *bo they ?
- Proto–Bulaka River
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I *ŋöl we *ŋag thou *ob you *el s/he *ib they *im
See also
References
- 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.
Categories:- South-Central Papuan languages
- Proposed language families
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