Eastern Trans-Fly
AltnameOriomo
RegionOriomo Plateau, Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait Islands (Australia)
FamilycolorPapuan
Fam 1Trans-Fly or independent language family
Glottoeast2503
GlottorefnameEastern Trans-Fly

The Eastern Trans-Fly (or Oriomo) languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages spoken in the Oriomo Plateau to the west of the Fly River in New Guinea.

Classification

The languages constituted a branch of Stephen Wurm's 1970 Trans-Fly proposal, which he later incorporated into his 1975 expansion of the Trans–New Guinea family as part of a Trans-Fly – Bulaka River branch. They are retained as a family but removed from Trans–New Guinea in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher.[who?]

Wurm had determined that some of the languages he classified as Trans-Fly were not actually part of the Trans-New Guinea family but were instead heavily influenced by Trans-New Guinea languages. In 2005, Ross removed most of these languages, including Eastern Trans-Fly, from Wurm's Trans-New Guinea classification.[1]

Timothy Usher[citation needed] links the four languages, which he calls Oriomo Plateau, to the Pahoturi languages and the Tabo language in an expanded Eastern Trans-Fly family.[clarification needed]

Languages

Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans et al. (2018) are provided below.[2] Geographical coordinates are also provided for each dialect (which are named after villages).[3]

{|

|+ List of Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages ! Language !! Location !! Population !! Alternate names !! Dialects |- | Gizrra || south Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) || 1,050 || Gizra || Western Gizra and Waidoro (9.199001°S 142.758852°E) dialects |- | Bine || south Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) || 2,000 || || Kunini (9.091499°S 143.009076°E), Boze-Giringarede (9.06073°S 143.03836°E), Sogal (8.93995°S 142.841073°E), Masingle (9.130976°S 142.950793°E), Tate (9.078728°S 142.877514°E), Irupi-Drageli (9.135394°S 142.862977°E; 9.161472°S 142.892287°E), and Sebe (9.050889°S 142.698247°E) dialects |- | Wipi || east Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) || 3,500 || Wipim, Gidra, Oriomo, Jibu || Dorogori (9.029768°S 143.215139°E), Abam (8.926818°S 143.19112°E), Peawa (8.886084°S 143.192049°E), Ume (9.021446°S 143.069507°E), Kuru (8.901837°S 143.074435°E), Woigo (8.897189°S 143.19818°E), Wonie (8.836602°S 142.974578°E), Iamega (8.768564°S 142.91733°E), Gamaewe (8.954618°S 142.932798°E), Podari (8.862731°S 142.860353°E), Wipim (8.786604°S 142.871224°E), Kapal (8.620541°S 142.815635°E), Rual (8.570315°S 142.85601°E), Guiam, and Yuta dialects |- | Meryam Mir || Australia: Torres Strait Islands of Erub (Darnley Island),
Ugar (Stephen Island), and Mer (Murray Island) || 700 || Meriam Mir || Erub (no longer used) and Mer dialects |}

Pronouns

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto–Eastern Trans-Fly are:

{| class=wikitable

|- | rowspan=2| I || rowspan=2| *ka || exclusive we || *ki |- | inclusive we || *mi |- | thou || *ma || you || *we |- | he/she/it || *tabV; *e || they || *tepi |}

There is a possibility of a connection here to Trans–New Guinea. If the inclusive pronoun is historically a second-person form, then there would appear to be i-ablaut for the plural: *ka~ki, **ma~mi, **tapa~tapi. This is similar to the ablaut reconstructed for TNG (*na~ni, *ga~gi). Although the pronouns themselves are dissimilar, ablaut is not likely to be borrowed. On the other hand, there is some formal resemblance to Austronesian pronouns (*(a)ku I, *(ka)mu you, *kita we inc., *(ka)mi we exc., *ia he/she/it; some archeological, cultural and linguistic evidence of Austronesian contact and settlement in the area exists.[4][5][6][7]

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words for Bine (Täti dialect), Bine (Sogal dialect), Gizra (Kupere dialect) and Wipi (Dorogori dialect) are from the Trans-New Guinea database.[8] The equivalent words for Meriam Mir are also included.[9]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. iřeʔu, iřeku, ilkʰəp for “eye”) or not (e.g. dřeŋgo, ume, yɔŋg for “dog”).

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! Bine (Täti dialect) !! Bine (Sogal dialect) !! Gizra (Kupere dialect) !! Wipi (Dorogori dialect) !! Meriam Mir |- ! head | mopo || mopo || siŋɨl || mopʰ || kìrìm |- ! hair | ede ŋæři || mopo ŋæři || eřŋen || mop ŋɨs || mus |- ! ear | tablam || tablamo || gublam || yəkəpya || girip, laip |- ! eye | iřeʔu || iřeku || ilkʰəp || yəř || erkep |- ! nose | keke || keke || siəkʰ || sok || pit |- ! tooth | giřiʔu || || ziřgup || || tìrìg |- ! tongue | wætæ || wærtæ || uːlitʰ || vlat || werut |- ! leg | er̃ŋe || er̃ŋe || wapʰər̃ || kwa || teter |- ! louse | ŋamwe || ŋamo || ŋəm || bɨnɨm || nem |- ! dog | dřego || dřeŋgo || ume || yɔŋg || omai |- ! pig | blomwe || blomo || || b'om || borom |- ! bird | eře || eře || pʰöyɑy || yi || ebur |- ! egg | ku || ku || uŕgup || kʰɨp || wer |- ! blood | uːdi || uːdi || əi || wɔːdž || mam |- ! bone | kaːke || kaːko || kʰus || kʰakʰ || lid |- ! skin | tæːpwe || tæːpo || sopʰai || gɨm || gegur |- ! breast | nono || ŋamo || ŋiam || ŋɔm || nano |- ! tree | uli || uli || nugup || wʉl || lu(g) |- ! man | řoːřie || řoːřie || pʰam || r̃ɨga || kimiar |- ! woman | magebe || magobe || kʰoːl || kʰɔŋga || koskìr |- ! sun | abwedži || bimu || abɨs || lom || lìm |- ! moon | mřeːpwe || mabye || mɛlpal || mobi || meb |- ! water | niːye || niːye || nai || ni || nì |- ! fire | ulobo || ulikobo || uːř || par̃a || ur |- ! stone | kula || kula || iŋlkʰup || gli || bakìr |- ! name | ŋi || ŋi || ŋi || niː || nei |- ! eat | || || waː aloda || nina wavwin || ero |- ! one | neːteřa || yepæ || dər̃pʰan || yəpa || netat |- ! two | neneni || neneni || niːs || nɨmɔg || neis |}

References

  1. ^ Ross, Malcom (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Pawley, Andrew; Attenborough, Robert; Hide, Robin; Golson, Jack (eds.). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782
  2. ^ Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern New Guinea". The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. Vol. 4. The World of Linguistics. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  4. ^ McNiven, I. J.; David, B.; Richards, T.; Aplin, K.; Asmussen, B.; Mialanes, J.; Leavesley, M.; Faulkner, P.; UlmM, S. (2011). "New directions in human colonisation of the Pacific: Lapita settlement of south coast New Guinea.". Australian Archaeology. 72: 1–6. doi:10.1080/03122417.2011.11690525
  5. ^ McNiven, I. J.; Dickinson, W. R.; David, B.; Weisler, M.; Von Gnielinski, F.; Carter, M.; Zoppi, U. (2006). "Mask Cave: red-slipped pottery and the Australian-Papuan settlement of Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait).". Archaeology in Oceania. 41 (2): 49–81. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.2006.tb00610.x. JSTOR 40387341
  6. ^ Mitchell, Rod (1995). Linguistic Archeology in Torres Strait (Unpublished MA thesis). Townsville: James Cook University.
  7. ^ David, Bruno; McNiven, Ian J.; Mitchell, Rod; Orr, Meredith; Haberle, Simon; Brady, Liam; Crouch, Joe (2004). "Badu 15 and the Papuan-Austronesian settlement of Torres Strait". Archaeology in Oceania. 39 (2): 67–8. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.2004.tb00564.x. JSTOR 40387283
  8. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  9. ^ McNiven, Ian J. & Hitchcock, Garrick (2015). "Goemulgaw Lagal: Natural and Cultural Histories of the Island of Mabuyag, Torres Strait.". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture. 8. Retrieved 18 May 2022.

Further reading