Dera language

Not to be confused with Dera language (Chadic).
Dera
Native toIndonesia, Papua New Guinea
RegionPapua: Keerom Regency, 13 villages
Native speakers
1,200 (2006)[1]
Senagi
  • Dera
Language codes
ISO 639-3kbv
Glottologdera1245
ELPDera
Coordinates: 3°36′43″S 141°03′26″E / 3.611948°S 141.05719°E / -3.611948; 141.05719 (Kamberatoro)
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Dera (Dra, Dla) a.k.a. Mangguar and Kamberataro (Komberatoro) is a Senagi language of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. In Papua New Guinea, it is primarily spoken in Kamberataro village (3°36′43″S 141°03′26″E / 3.611948°S 141.05719°E / -3.611948; 141.05719 (Kamberatoro)), Amanab Rural LLG, Sandaun Province.[1][2]

Dialects

There are two dialects, namely Dla proper and Menggwa Dla.

Dla proper is spoken in the three main villages of Kamberatoro Mission (3°36′S 141°03′E; 1299 feet) in Papua New Guinea, Amgotro Mission (3°38′S 140°58′E; 1969 feet) and Komando village in Papua Province, Indonesia. Komando village was formerly a Dutch border post. Other Dla proper speaking villages in Papua New Guinea are Tamarbek (3°35′30″S 141°03′18″E / 3.591701°S 141.055114°E / -3.591701; 141.055114 (Tamarbek)), Akamari (3°35′49″S 141°03′33″E / 3.597044°S 141.059233°E / -3.597044; 141.059233 (Akimari 1)), New Kamberatoro; Old Kamberatoro, ‘Border Village’, Nimberatoro (3°37′34″S 141°02′33″E / 3.625973°S 141.042369°E / -3.625973; 141.042369 (Nimberatoro)), Nindebai (3°38′28″S 141°00′22″E / 3.64111°S 141.006033°E / -3.64111; 141.006033 (Nindebai)), Mamamora (3°39′14″S 141°01′13″E / 3.653793°S 141.020182°E / -3.653793; 141.020182 (Mamamura)), Yamamainda (3°40′10″S 141°02′00″E / 3.669519°S 141.033445°E / -3.669519; 141.033445 (Yamamainda)), Orkwanda (3°38′50″S 141°04′52″E / 3.647337°S 141.081231°E / -3.647337; 141.081231 (Orkwanda)), and Lihen (3°37′26″S 141°07′03″E / 3.623834°S 141.117364°E / -3.623834; 141.117364 (Lihen)). While Papua Province in Indonesia has the Dla villages of Amgotro, Komando, Indangan, Mongwefi, Buku, and Agrinda, which are mostly located in Yaffi District, Keerom Regency.[3]

Menggwa Dla, the less populous of the two dialects, is spoken in five villages located between Kamberatoro Mission and Komando village, which are Menggau, Wahai (3°34′51″S 141°01′45″E / 3.580863°S 141.029277°E / -3.580863; 141.029277 (Wahai)), Ambofahwa (alternatively known as Wahai Nº 2), Wanggurinda (3°34′49″S 141°01′43″E / 3.580396°S 141.028671°E / -3.580396; 141.028671 (Wagurinda); 3°34′59″S, 141°01′41″E) in Papua New Guinea, and Menggwal (3°33′53″S, 140°59′04″E) in Papua Province, Indonesia.[3]

Status

Dla (Dera) speakers are shifting to Tok Pisin and Papuan Malay. De Sousa (2006) reports that the younger generation born in the 1990s or later usually cannot speak Dera fluently, whereas the older generation remains fluent.[3]

Phonology

Dera has 14 consonants (4 less than Angor), which are:[4]

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative ɸ s x
Liquid r
Semivowel w j

Dera has 5 vowels (2 less than Angor), which are:[4]

Front Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words of Dera dialects are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975),[5][6] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[7]

gloss Dera (Amgotro dialect) Dera (Moŋgowar dialect) Dera (Amgotro dialect)
head boda bapale boda
hair nanada nenale nanada
ear kumbo- keda gombo-gala kumbo- keda
eye kumba- kwada kamba-gala kumba- kwada
nose gutubu damor gutubu
tooth jabo-gemda djabo jabo-gemda
tongue tabu tep tabu
louse manə mave manə
dog jabodo jabodo
pig wadə wadə
bird du tu du
egg dogomda tugabola dogomda
blood kodoa hola kodoa
bone gemda saba gemda
skin kueda kiaba kueda
breast toto tutu toto
tree namo; nomo agala namo; nomo
man jani- ndia jani jani- ndia
woman kuadedebo kolbake kuadedebo
sun kəbu gəfu kəbu
moon amana anam amana
water kue gəwei kue
fire kai kai kai
stone nəmai nimi nəmai
road, path bakoda bakoda
name dia
eat tato- hede- tato-
one mano; ŋguadu mamu mano; ŋguadu
two imbu jimbal imbu

References

  1. ^ a b Dera at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  3. ^ a b c de Sousa, Hilário (2006). The Menggwa Dla language of New Guinea (Doctoral dissertation). University of Sydney.
  4. ^ a b Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". 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. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  5. ^ Voorhoeve, C.L. "Miscellaneous Notes on Languages in West Irian, New Guinea". In Dutton, T., Voorhoeve, C. and Wurm, S.A. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 14. A-28:47-114. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971. doi:10.15144/PL-A28.47
  6. ^ Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-B31
  7. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.