West Bird's Head languages
| West Bird's Head | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | West Papua |
| Linguistic classification | West Papuan
|
| Glottolog | west1493 |
West Bird's Head languages are a small family of poorly documented Papuan languages spoken on the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea.
The West Bird's Head family is a well-defined family of six languages spoken at the western end of the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea and the eastern part of the island of Salawati opposite the Bird's Head's western shore.
Language contact
West Bird's Head languages have been heavily influenced by Austronesian languages. Austronesian influence is evident in SVO word order (as opposed to SOV word order in most other Papuan language families), pronouns, numerals, and other typological features.[1]: 625
Languages
- Seget–Moi (Sele Strait):
- South West Bird's Head (Seremuk River):
- ? Kuwani
Kuwani is attested only from a single word list, but is clearly distinct.[2]
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from the Trans-New Guinea database:[3]
gloss Kalabra Moi Moraid Seget Tehit head safas sawa sawag sadus sam hair sadin sagin sadie salas gen eye sifoko suo sgolfun si tsifon tooth tela efek etəla gifek -hek leg terit telek ere cek ndeit louse on sayam oŋ wut hain dog houn ofun ŋouŋ awfu pig beak baik mimula mon bird kalen kelem kele klem klen egg weko tolok begu niwi mesyen blood hein sdam hijeg sədam hon bone kodus kodus kedoq nədus honim skin falak -kesik balg nensiek falek tree kout ouk pelu bua molom man nadele (ne) dala dli nanla naadla sun pun dewe telu tale pun water kala kala kəla kla sem fire sal yak salp yap stone amak kwak amp kuat amak name nakadi kedi numhamone nomo kendim eat atkaren wak nagrimi nate atni one mere mele merəh məre mre two lap ali telok ali la; lauh
References
- ^ Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian (2018). "The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird's Head". 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. 569–640. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- ^ Voorhoeve, C.L. 1975. West Papuan Phylum languages on the mainland of New Guinea: Bird's Head (Vogelkop) Peninsula. Papuan Languages and the New Guinea Linguistic Scene, ed. by S.A. Wurm, 717-28. (Pacific Linguistics C-38). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
- ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.