Pahoturi languages
| Pahoturi | |
|---|---|
| Paho River | |
| Geographic distribution | Pahoturi River, New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Trans-Fly or independent language family
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | paho1240 |
 Map: The Pahoturi languages of New Guinea | |
The Pahoturi languages are a small family of Papuan languages spoken around the Pahoturi (Paho River). This family includes six language varieties including Agöb (Dabu), Em, Ende, Kawam, Idi, and Taeme, which are spoken in the Pahoturi River area south of the Fly River, just west of the Eastern Trans-Fly languages. Ross (2005) tentatively includes them in the proposed Trans-Fly – Bulaka River family.
Some Pahoturi River speakers were originally hunter-gatherers, but had recently shifted to becoming gardeners.[1]: 649
Classification
Wurm (1975) and Ross (2005) suggest that the Pahoturi languages may be related to the Tabo (Waia) language just north of the Fly delta. However, they present no evidence, and the pronouns do not match.[2]
Evans (2018) classifies the Pahoturi River languages as an independent language family.[1]
Languages
The six varieties have traditionally been grouped[by whom?] into the following two language groups:
Preliminary work on the language family suggests that these varieties form a dialect chain.
Pahoturi River languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans (2018) are provided below.[1]
List of Pahoturi River languages Language Location Population Alternate names Idi central-east Morehead Rural LLG 774 Taeme northeast Morehead Rural LLG 834 Tame Agob southeast Morehead Rural LLG 1,437 Bugi, Dabu Ende east Morehead Rural LLG 542 Kawam east Morehead Rural LLG and west Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG 457
Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[3]
*m *mʷ *n *ŋ [*ŋʷ] *p *pʷ *t *ʈ *ts *k *kʷ *b *bʷ *d *ɖ *dz *g *gʷ *mb *mbʷ *nd *ɳɖ *ndz *ŋg *ŋgʷ *l *ɭ *w *r *ɽ *j
Pronouns
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for the family are:
Proto-Pahoturi
I *ŋa-na we ? thou *ba or *be you *-bi s/he *bo they ?
Lindsey lists the following pronouns for each of the language varieties in the family.[4]
| Case | English | Agob | Em | Ende | Kawam | Idi | Taeme |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | I (1sg) | ŋəna | ŋəna | ŋəna | ŋəna | ŋən | ŋən |
| thou (2sg) | boŋo | boŋo | boŋo | buŋo | bæ | bæ | |
| s/he (3sg) | bo | bogo | bogo | bo | bo | bo | |
| we exclusive
(1.nsg.excl) |
ŋumi | ŋumi | ŋəmi | ŋəmi | ŋəmi/bi | bi | |
| we inclusive
(1.nsg.incl) |
ibi | ibi | ibi | ibi | jɪbi | jəbi | |
| you (2nsg) | bibi | bibi | bibi | bibi | bæ | bæ | |
| they (3nsg) | ubi | ubi | ubi | ubi | bo/wɪbi | bo/ubi | |
| Accusative | I (1sg) | ŋənam | ŋənam | ŋənəm | ŋonom | bom | ŋənəm |
| thou (2sg) | bæm | bæm | bam | bæm | babom | babom | |
| s/he (3sg) | obom | obom | obom | obom | obom | obom | |
| we exclusive
(1.nsg.excl) |
ŋənam | ŋumim | ŋəmim | ŋəmim | bim | ŋəmim | |
| we inclusive
(1.nsg.incl) |
ibom | ibam | ibim | ibim | jəbim | jɪbim | |
| you (2nsg) | bæm | bæm | bibim | bibim | bibim | bibim | |
| they (3nsg) | obam | obæm | ubim | ubim | ubim/wəbim | ubim | |
| Dative | I (1sg) | ŋɵmɽe | ŋəmɽe | ŋəmɽe | ŋəmre | blæ | ŋəmʎæ |
| thou (2sg) | bæɽe | babɽe | babɽe | bæbre | bæblæ | bæbʎe | |
| s/he (3sg) | obɽe | obɽe | obɽe | obo | oblæ | obʎe | |
| we exclusive
(1.nsg.excl) |
ŋɵmra | ŋumra | ŋəmira | ŋəmira | bli | ŋəmʎi | |
| we inclusive
(1.nsg.incl) |
ibra | ibra | ibra | ibra | jəbli | jɪbʎi | |
| you (2nsg) | bæra | babra | bibra | bibra | bibli | bibʎi | |
| they (3nsg) | obra | obra | ubira | ubira | ubli | ubʎi | |
| Possessive | I (1sg) | ŋɵmo | ŋəmo | ŋəmo | ŋomo | bo/bænæ | ŋəmo |
| thou (2sg) | bəne | bəne | bəne | bəne | bənæ | bənæ | |
| s/he (3sg) | obo | obo | obo | obo | obo/obænæ | obo | |
| we exclusive
(1.nsg.excl) |
ŋəma | ŋəma | ŋəma | ŋəma | ba | ŋəma | |
| we inclusive
(1.nsg.incl) |
iba | iba | iba | iba | jəba | jəba | |
| you (2nsg) | bina | bina | bina | bina | bəna | bəna | |
| they (3nsg) | oba | oba | oba | oba | oba | wəba |
References
- ^ a b c Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern 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. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- ^ Hammarström, Harald. "Tabo". Glottolog. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
- ^ New Guinea World, Paho River
- ^ Lindsey, Kate L. (April 16, 2018). "Language Corpus of Ende and other Pahoturi River Languages". PARADISEC. doi:10.26278/5c1a5cfcaacde. LSNG08. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
- 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.
External links
- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Paho River