Mek languages
| Mek | |
|---|---|
| Goliath | |
| Ethnicity | Mek people |
| Geographic distribution | New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Trans–New Guinea |
| Glottolog | mekk1240 |
 Map: The Mek languages of New Guinea
The Mek languages
Other Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited | |
The Mek languages are a well established family of Papuan languages spoken by the Mek peoples. They form a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages (TNG) in the classifications of Stephen Wurm (1975) and of Malcolm Ross (2005).
Mek, then called Goliath, was identified by M. Bromley in 1967. It was placed in TNG by Wurm (1975).
Languages
The Mek languages form three dialect chains (Heeschen 1998):
- Eastern: Ketengban (including Okbap, Omban, Bime, Onya), Una (Goliath), Eipomek
- Northern: Kosarek Yale–Nipsan, Nalca
- Western: Korupun-Sela (including Dagi, Sisibna, Deibula)
Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant and vowel inventories as 'perhaps' as follows:[2]
*m *n *ŋ *p *t *k *kʷ *(m)b *(n)d *(ŋ)g *(ŋ)gʷ *s *w *l *j
i u e o ɛ ɔ a ɒ
ei ou ɛi ɔu ai au aɛ aɔ
Pronouns
Pronouns are:[2]
sg pl 1 *na *nu[n] 2 *kan *kun (?) 3 *ɛl *tun, *[t/s]ig
The difference between the two 3pl forms is not known. 2pl and 3pl have parallels in Momuna /kun tun/.
Evolution
Mek reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[3]
- mun ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
- kuna ‘shadow’ < *k(a,o)nan
- saŋ ‘dancing song’ < *saŋ
- getane ‘sun’ < *kVtane
- mundo ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
- ami ‘louse’ < *niman
- si ‘tooth’ < *(s,t)i(s,t)i
- tomo < *k(i,u)tuma ‘night’
- de ‘to burn’ < *nj(a,e,i)
- mon ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
- xau ‘ashes’ < *kambu
References
- ^ Momuna–Mek, New Guinea World
- ^ a b 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.
- 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, Proto–Momuna–Mek
- (ibid.) Proto–Mek