Piawi languages

Piawi
Schraeder Range
Waibuk
Geographic
distribution		Schraeder Range, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classificationMadang – Upper Yuat
Subdivisions
Language codes
Glottologpiaw1238

The Piawi languages are a small family of Papuan languages spoken in the Schraeder Range of the Madang Highlands of Papua New Guinea that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They are now connected to the Arafundi and Madang languages.

The name "Piawi" is an acronym of three language varieties: Pinai (Pinaye), Aramo/Aramaue (Hagahai) and Wiyaw (Harway/Waibuk). Pinai and Hagahai are often classified as a single language.

Classification

Piawi consists of only two languages:

Davies and Comrie (1985)[1] noted some pronominal similarities with the Engan languages in Trans–New Guinea, which Ross took into consideration, but no lexical similarities. Comrie believes the family is as isolate. William A. Foley suggested that Piawi and Arafundi may be related (Comrie 1992),[2] and according to Ross a connection with Arafundi or Ramu appears more promising than Engan. Timothy Usher confirms the link to Arafundi.[3]

Pronouns

Below is a comparison of proto-Piawi, proto-Ramu, Arafundi, and proto-North Engan pronouns, per Ross. Initial nasals are ubiquitous, and indeed are very common throughout New Guinea, so they are in themselves not good evidence of a relationship.

"I" "thou" "s/he" "we two" "you two" "we" "you"
p-Piawi *ni-ga *na-ga *nu-ga *(n)ane-ga-li(mi) *ni-ga-li(mi) *ane-ga, *nane-ga *ni-ga
p-Ramu *aŋko, *ni *un, *nu *man *a-ŋk-a *(n)o-ŋk-oa *a-ni, *na-ni *u-ni, *nu-ni
Arafundi ɲiŋ nan nda aci niɲi aŋ nuŋ
p-N Engan *na-ba *ne-ba *-ba *na-li-ba *ɲa-li-mba *na-ni-ma *ɲa-ma, *ɲa-ka-ma

Both Engan and Piawi have a dual suffix *li.

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Davies & Comrie (1985),[1] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[4] The Haruai data is from Tonson (1976).[5]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. waɲa, wəɲa, wɛɲa for “dog”) or not (e.g. haŋietʰ, nauŋasi, namagə for “nose”).

gloss Haruai
(Wiyaw dial.)		 Pinai-Hagahai
(Wakadadap dial.)		 Pinai-Hagahai
(Nangenuwetan dial.)		 Pinai-Hagahai
(Aramo dial.)		 Haruai Pinai-Hagahai
head ˈjeʥ̮ᵊˈmat̮ɑ ɩʥ̮ɩboˈʥ̮ɛ idᴶibəˈdᴶə iʥ̮uəˈxə yɛtʸəmatʸ ɩʥ̮ɩˈboʥ̮ɛ
hair jeʥ̮ᵊˈϕan ɩʥ̮ɷmuˈda idᴶimuˈda iˌʥ̮iməˈda yɛntʸəᵽan ɩʥ̮ɷmɷˈda
ear ɾ̥ɨmɨnt̮ɕ jɛnɷaˈʥ̮ə jənˈwadᴶə jɛnˈwaϕe jɛnuˈaʥ̮ɩ
eye ˈmomakʰ məmɛˈʥ̮i mɛmɛˈdᴶi mɛmɛʥ̮əˈmagə mɛmaŋk mɛmɛˈʥ̮i
nose haŋiˈetʰ nauˈŋasi namaˈga namaˈgə haŋantʸ namaˈgə
tooth andzᵊmakᵡ ad̮ʑuaˈbə adᴶuˈabɤ ˌjɛd̮ʑɩ ˈmagə ad̮ʑuaˈβə
tongue alᵊˈbʌɲ t̮suˈə; t̮suˈɛ suˈwɔ suˈə; syê sjuˈə
leg ϕaˈletʰ əˈda; həˈda ˌaɤɔjɔˈdu həˈdaməˈsi aˈɽɐd̮ʑə
louse jɩm nəˈma ɭɛˈma iˈmɤd̮ʑi yɩm
dog waɲa wəˈɲa; wɛˈɲa wəˈɲa wɛˈɲa wañə wɛˈɲa
pig han jɛˈnə jɛˈnɤ jɛˈnɤ han jɛˈnə
bird ˈjaʷər jauˈr̥ɷ; jauˈtʰɷ jauˈt͑u jauˈthə yawʌř jauˈr̥u; jauˈthu
egg jaur mɩntɕ ˈjautʰumuˈsi jauˈt͑umuˈsi məntʸ
blood haɲ geˈja aˈt͑aɤi gaˈja
bone jantʰ joˈdu jɔˈdu jɛˈdə
skin jɩmaɤ wɨɲ ɽəˈxa ɭIˈk͑a wɩˈɲi wəñ Iˈda
breast kau aˈu aˈu aˈhu
tree bɨ məˈna muˈna mɤˈna bï
man ˈnabʌ naˈba naˈba naˈba nʌmbə woˈdu
woman mʌ jaˈma jəˈma məˈgə mʌg jamˈwa
sun naijʌ ɽəˈma nuˈma ɽəˈma naiyə
moon r̥̃ʌn tsoxɷˈno sɔkᵡɷˈnə sɔˈkɷnə hřawən
water ɾ̥aˈbʌ gɯ gɯ gɯ hřʌmbə
fire ɾ̥ᵼn ɲabɯ; ɲabu ɲaˈbu ɲaˈbɤ hřən ᵽin
stone ɾ̥ɩgɨ ɽɩˈgə ɭɨˈgə ɽɩˈgə hřəŋk ɽɩˈgə
road, path ganɨmϕ ˈsaba ʥɩmur̥əmam ˈdᴶɩmɷtʰɩ ˈdiədə anəmbi
name hʌmpʰ mɛˈi aˈt̮ɕaβəde nabamɩˈhe yɩmpʰ
eat nɨmˈda jaˈd̮ʑi ja⋅ˈdᴶɩmɩnə ˌmoməˈdɛɽə
one waɲɩŋˈgeϕ joɽoˈdə ˈjɔ⋅ɤɔdə aˈgə paŋɛmp
two jɩˈmag ˈjɩŋgʷʌ janˈdɛɽimi ˈjadaɤɩn ˌhəgəˈnaβəmaˈɨ mʌs

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Davies, J. and Comrie, B. "A linguistic survey of the Upper Yuat". 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-63:275-312. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985. doi:10.15144/PL-A63.275
  2. ^ Comrie, Bernard. "The recognition of the Piawi language family." In Tom Dutton, Malcolm Ross and Darrell Tryon, eds. The language game: Papers in memory of Donald C. Laycock. 111-113. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, 1992.
  3. ^ NewGuineaWorld Arafundi and Upper Yuat Rivers
  4. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  5. ^ Tonson, J. 1976. The languages in the Schraeder ranges. Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages 16. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics. Pp. 91-112.
  • 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. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.