Kwomtari languages
| Kwomtari | |
|---|---|
| Senu River | |
| Geographic distribution | Papua New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | kwom1263 (Kwomtari–Nai)[1] guri1248 (Guriaso)[2] |
 The neighboring Kwomtari–Nai and Fas language families | |
The Kwomtari languages are a small language family of Papua New Guinea.
Contents
Classification[edit]
The family consists of at least the two relatively closely related languages Kwomtari and Nai.
Baron[edit]
Baron adds the highly divergent language Guriaso:
Guriaso shares a small number of cognates with Kwomtari–Nai. Baron (1983) says the evidence is convincing once a correspondence between /ɾ~l/ and /n/ (from *ɾ) is established:
| Gloss | Guriaso | Kwomtari |
|---|---|---|
| Verb suffixes (1pl, 2pl, 3pl) |
-nɔ, -mɛ, -no | -ɾe, -mo, -ɾe* |
| dog | map | mau |
| ear | mətɛnu | futɛne |
| crocodile | mɔməni | maməle |
| small | tɔkəno | tɔkweɾo |
| nose | apədu | tipu** |
* Compare Biaka -ɾo, -mo, -na.
** Metathesis of /p/ and /t/.
Usher[edit]
Usher further classifies Yale (Nagatman) with Guriaso, and adds Busa, all under the name "Senu River".[3]
- Senu River (Kwomtari–Busa)
- Kwomtari–Nai
- Guriaso–Yale
- Odiai (Busa)
Confusion from Laycock[edit]
There has been confusion over the membership of the Kwomtari family, apparently due to a misalignment in the publication (Loving & Bass 1964) of the data used for the initial classification. (See Baron 1983.) Because of this, Laycock classified the Kwomtari languages as part of a spurious Kwomtari–Fas family, which confusingly was also often called "Kwomtari" in the literature. However, Baron sees no evidence that the similarities are due to relationship. Usher likewise discounts the inclusion of the Fas languages. See Kwomtari–Fas languages for details.
References[edit]
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Kwomtari–Nai". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Guriaso". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ^ NewGuineaWorld Senu River
- Baron, Wietze (1983). "Kwomtari survey" (PDF).
- Laycock, Donald C. (1975). "Sko, Kwomtari, and Left May (Arai) phyla". In Stephen A. Wurm. Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene: New Guinea area languages and language study 1. Canberra: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. pp. 849–858. OCLC 37096514.
- Loving, Richard; Jack Bass (1964). Languages of the Amanab sub-district. Port Moresby: Department of Information and Extension Services. OCLC 17101737.
External links[edit]
- Wietze Baron, The Kwomtari Phylum (accessed 2011-4-15)
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