Dagan languages
| Dagan | |
|---|---|
| Meneao Range | |
| Geographic distribution | Meneao Range, southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea: Central Province and Milne Bay Province |
| Linguistic classification | Trans–New Guinea
|
| Glottolog | daga1274 |
The Dagan or Meneao Range languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in the Meneao Range of the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea, the easternmost Papuan languages on the mainland. They are the most divergent of the several small families within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.
Languages
The languages are:[1]
- Onjob
- Southwest
- East
- Southeast: Ginuman, Kanasi (Sona)
- Northeast: Dima (Jimajima), Umanakaina (Gwedena), and the nearly extinct Turaka
Although clearly related, they are not particularly close. Umanakaina and Ginuman, for example, are only 23% lexically similar.
Pronouns
Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as:[2]
sg pl 1 *n[e/a] *nu 2 *g[e/a] *j[e/a] 3 *me *mV
Evolution
Dagan reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma:[3]
- ama ‘breast’ < *amu
- meri (nawa) ‘tongue’ < *me(l,n)e
- ira ‘tree’ < *inda
- asi ‘ear’ < *kand(e,i)k(V]
- etepa ‘bark’ < *(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu ‘skin’
- obosa ‘wind’ < *kumbutu
- oman ‘stone’ < *ka(m,mb)u[CV]
- nene ‘bird’ < *n(e)i
References
- Notes
- ^ NewGuineaWorld – Meneao Range
- ^ New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
- ^ 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.
- Sources
- 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.