Melpa

Melpa
Spoken in	Papua New Guinea
speaker	130,000
Linguistic ; classification	Papuan languages Trans New Guinea Languages Melpa ;
Official status
Official language in	nowhere official language
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	-
ISO 639 -2	paa
ISO 639-3	med

Melpa (also Medlpa, Hagen ) is one of the Trans New Guinea languages spoken in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea . Language code according to ISO / DIS 639-3: med.

The language is estimated to be spoken by around 130,000 people ( SIL 1991). It is therefore of comparatively great importance, also beyond the native speakers. Translations of the New Testament exist, even if less than ten percent of speakers can read and write in their mother tongue. Almost all Melpa spokesman also use the common language Tok Pisin and other local languages ( Ek Nii u. A.).

Another peculiarity of Melpa is its binary number system :

number	Melpa	interpretation
1	tenda	(1)
2	ragl	(2)
3	ragltika	(2 + 1)
4th	tembokak	(4)
5	pömp tsi gudl	(1 to 4)
6th	pömp ragl gudl	(2 after 4)
7th	pömp ragltika gudl	(2 + 1 after 4)
8th	engak	(8th)
9	pömp tsi pip	(1 to 8)
10	pömp ragl pip	(2 to 8)

The Melpa speakers predominantly practice agriculture. Main crops are sweet potato , taro, and yams . As a cash crop is coffee ( arabica coffee ) spread.

Like other New Guinean highland groups, the Melpas also belong to different Christian denominations. Catholics, Lutherans and Adventists are widespread. The Melpa Lutheran Church has split off from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea , but is not recognized by the Lutheran World Federation . Traditional religions also exist.

An essential element of the traditional religion of the Melpa is the belief in ancestral spirits , the spirits of deceased families or clan members . Traditional healers also function as a medium between the human world and the spirits . Christianity only made its entrance with the establishment of the Mount Hagen administrative center in the 1930s.