Mpur (also known as Amberbaken, Kebar, Ekware, and Dekwambre) is a language isolate spoken in and around Mpur and Amberbaken Districts in Tambrauw Regency of the Bird's Head Peninsula, New Guinea. It is not closely related to any other language, and though Ross (2005) tentatively assigned it to the West Papuan languages, based on similarities in pronouns, Palmer (2018), Ethnologue, and Glottolog list it as a language isolate.[2][3]
Locations
In Tambrauw Regency, ethnic Mpur people reside in Kebar District, Kebar Timur District, Manekar District, Amberbaken District, Mubrani District, and Senopi District. Villages include Akmuri, Nekori, Ibuanari, Atai, Anjai, Jandurau, Ajami, Inam, Senopi, Asiti, Wausin, and Afrawi.[4]
Mpur has a complex tonal system with 4 lexical tones and an additional contour tone, a compound of two of the lexical tones. Its tonal system is somewhat similar to the nearby Austronesian languages of Mor and Ma'ya.[6][7] The neighboring language isolate Abun is also tonal.[8]
Mpur has four lexical tones. There is also a fifth complex contour tone formed as a phonetic compound of two lexical tones. An example minimal set is given below.[8]
bé ‘but’ (high tone)
be ‘in’ (mid tone)
bè ‘fruit’ (low tone)
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from Miedema & Welling (1985),[9] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[10]
^Ronsumbre, Adolof (2020). Ensiklopedia Suku Bangsa di Provinsi Papua Barat. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kepel Press. ISBN978-602-356-318-0.
^Odé, Cecilia (2002). A Sketch of Mpur. In Ger P. Reesink (ed.), Languages of the Eastern Bird's Head: Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 45–107.
^Palmer, Bill (2018). "Language families of the New Guinea Area". 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. 1–20. ISBN978-3-11-028642-7.
^ abHolton, 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. ISBN978-3-11-028642-7.
^Miedema, J. and Welling, F.I. "Fieldnotes on languages and dialects in the Kebar district, Bird's Head, Irian Jaya". In Adams, K., Lauck, L., Miedema, J., Welling, F., Stokhof, W., Flassy, D., Oguri, H., Collier, K., Gregerson, K., Phinnemore, T., Scorza, D., Davies, J., Comrie, B. and Abbott, S. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 22. A-63:29-52. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985. doi:10.15144/PL-A63.29
Odé, Cecilia (2002). "A Sketch of Mpur". In Ger P. Reesink (ed.). Languages of the Eastern Bird's Head. Pacific Linguistics. Vol. 524. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 45–107. doi:10.15144/PL-524. hdl:1885/146144. ISBN9780858834941.
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. ISBN0858835622. OCLC67292782.
External links
Materials on Karnai are included in the open access collections AC1 and CVL1 held by Paradisec.