Wikipedia

Mailuan languages

The Mailuan or Cloudy Bay languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken around Cloudy Bay in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.

Mailuan
Cloudy Bay
Geographic
distribution		Southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea:
Central Province
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Glottologmail1249

Languages edit

The languages, which all share about half of their vocabulary, are,

Bauwaki–O'oku is closely related to the Mailuan languages.

Classification edit

Dutton (1971) said Bauwaki was a link to the Yareban languages. It has greater lexical similarity with Aneme Wake (Yareban) than the closest Mailuan language, Domu. Usher (2020) classifies Mailuan, Bauwaki and Yareban together.[1]

Magi shows evidence of language shift from an Oceanic language in many Oceanic words.

Pronouns edit

Usher (2020) reconstructs the proto-Mailuan–Yareban pronouns as:[1]

sg du pl
1excl *na *ge
1incl *gu *i
2 *ga *ja
3 *e *ema

Ross (1995) reconstructs the Mailuan pronouns as:

sg du pl
1 *i *gu- *ge
2 *ga *[j]a *[j]a, *mee
3 *emu

Vocabulary comparison edit

The following basic vocabulary words are from Thomson (1975)[2] and various SIL field notes, as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[3]

gloss Bauwaki Binahari Mailu (Ilai dialect) Mailu[4] Mailu (Delebai dialect) Mailu (Asiaoro dialect) Mailu (Baibara dialect) Mailu (Geagea dialect) Mailu (Ilai dialect) Mailu (Delebai dialect) Mailu (Domara dialect) Mailu (Darava dialect) Morawa
head awara sol ilolo moru; uru moru moru moru ioru ilolo moru moru moru din
hair i'iri git liʔimu limuu ʔuru liʔimu limuʔu ʔuru liʔimu ʔuru ʔuru ʔuru bo
ear ome ofi ʔope ope ʔope ʔope ʔope ʔope ʔope ʔope ʔope ʔope ope
eye ni'aba ni ini ini ini ini ini ini ini ini ini ini nikaba
nose iru lilim durumu durumu durumu durumu durumu durumu durumu durumu durumu durumu dunun
tooth ni'o maʔa maʔa gagina; maa maʔa maʔa maʔa maʔa maʔa maʔa maʔa maʔa ma'akisa
tongue meana koba goba goba goba goba goba goba goba goba goba goba goba
leg doboro aᵘ ʔau ʔau ʔau ʔau ʔau ʔau ʔau ʔau ʔau au
louse kuma uma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma
dog wa'ai waʔaⁱ dari waai waʔai dari waʔai dari dari waʔai dari waʔai va'ai
pig boro boro talae boraʔa boraʔa boraʔa boraʔa talae boraʔa natu boraʔa
bird adau adaᵘ manu manu manu manu manu manu manu manu manu manu adau
egg baka ulim muruʔu muruu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu unimi
blood dana lala lala lala lala lala lala lala lala lala
bone i sa gisa kisa kisa kisa tara kisa kisa kisa kisa iriga kisa
skin ofe ofi ʔopi opi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ubu
breast ama ⁱama ama hama ama ama ama ama ama ama ama ama ama
tree ana ʔana ana ana ana ana ana ana ana ana ana ana
man eme ɛmɛkʰ egi egi egi egi egi egi egi egi egi egi emegi
woman aveka aveha avesa avesa avesa avesa avesa avesa avesa avesa avesa aveha
sky nogara nogara nogara nogara nogara nogara nogara nogara nogara nogara
sun evaka budiwa nina nina nina nina nina nina nina nina nina rina
moon manabe debaʔaʰ dovele dovele dovele dovele dovele dovele deveni
water ya'a yaʔah ʔaʔama aʔaʔma; mami ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ya'ama
fire yo kɛu eu eu eu eu eu eu eu eu badau eu eu
stone oma bagᵃ gomana budi; gomagomana; nabua gomana gomana gomana gomana gomana korau gomana korao
road, path da'aba legaʰ laea laea laea laea laea laea laea laea laea laea nara
name ibi im omu omu omu omu omu omu omu omu omu omu
eat isi kihi isiisi isiisi isiisi isiisi isiisi isiisi isiisi isiisi ʔiʔa isiisi isi
one dim dai opmigau ʔomu omu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu obumiya
two yara haᵘřa ʔava ava ʔava ʔava ʔava ʔava ʔava ʔava ʔava ʔava hauna

Additional word lists can be found in Ray (1938).[5]

Evolution edit

Mailuan reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[6]

Mailu language:

  • ama ‘breast’ < *amu
  • maa ‘mouth’ < *maŋgat[a]
  • kisa ‘bone’ < *kondaC
  • tupa ‘short’ < *tu(p,mb)a(C)
  • guia ‘cassowary’ < *ku(y)a

Bauwaki language:

  • baba ‘father’ < *mbapa
  • idi ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
  • (ine) ibi ‘name’ < *imbi
  • iini- ‘sleep’ < *kin(i,u)-

References edit

  1. ^ a b c New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
  2. ^ Thomson, N.P. "The Dialects of Magi". In Conrad, R., Dye, W., Thomson, N. and Bruce Jr., L. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 18. A-40:37-90. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-A40.37
  3. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  4. ^ Saville, W. J. V. 1912. A Grammar of the Mailu Language, Papua. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 42: 397-436.
  5. ^ Ray, Sidney H. 1938. The languages of the Eastern and South-Eastern Division of Papua. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 68: 153–208.
  6. ^ 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.
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