East Papuan languages

East Papuan
(obsolete)
Geographic distribution	Melanesia
Linguistic classification	Proposed language family
Subdivisions	Anêm Ata Baining (East New Britain) North Bougainville South Bougainville Central Solomon Sulka Kol Kuot (Panaras) × Reefs – Santa Cruz (now Austronesian) × Kazukuru language (now Austronesian) × Yele
Glottolog	None

The East Papuan languages is a defunct proposal for a family of Papuan languages spoken on the islands to the east of New Guinea, including New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, and the Santa Cruz Islands. There is no evidence that these languages are related to each other, and the Santa Cruz languages are no longer recognized as Papuan.

All but two of the starred languages below (Yélî Dnye and Sulka) make a gender distinction in their pronouns. Several of the heavily Papuanized Austronesian languages of New Britain do as well. This suggests a pre-Austronesian language area in the region.

History of the proposal

The East Papuan languages were proposed as a family by linguist Stephen Wurm (1975) and others. However, their work was preliminary, and there is little evidence that the East Papuan languages actually have a genetic relationship. For example, none of these fifteen languages marked with asterisks below share more than 2–3% of their basic vocabulary with any of the others. Dunn and colleagues (2005) tested the reliability of the proposed 2–3% cognates by randomizing the vocabulary lists and comparing them again. The nonsense comparisons produced the same 2–3% of "shared" vocabulary, demonstrating that the proposed cognates of the East Papuan languages, and even of proposed families within the East Papuan languages, are as likely to be due to chance as to any genealogical relationship. Thus in a conservative classification, many of the East Papuan languages would be considered language isolates.

Since the islands in question have been settled for at least 35,000 years, their considerable linguistic diversity is unsurprising. However, Malcolm Ross (2001; 2005) has presented evidence from comparing pronouns from nineteen of these languages that several of the lower-level branches of East Papuan may indeed be valid families. This is the classification adopted here. For Wurm's more inclusive classification, see the Glottolog page here.

Classification (Ross 2005)

Small families

Each of the first five entries in boldface is an independent language family, not known to be related to the others. Languages that are transparently related to each other are listed together on the same line. The first family is a more tentative proposal than the others and awaits confirmation.

Reconstructed pronoun sets for each of the families are given in the individual articles.

• ? Yele – West New Britain family [tentative]

	Yélî Dnye (Yele)* (Rossel Island)  West  New Britain  Anêm* (New Britain) Ata (Pele-Ata, Wasi)* (New Britain)

• East New Britain family

	Baining: Mali*, Qaqet, Kairak, Simbali, Ura, Makolkol Taulil–Butam: Taulil**, Butam (extinct)**

• North Bougainville family (Bougainville)

	Keriaka Konua (Rapoisi)** Rotokas: Rotokas*, Eivo

• South Bougainville family (Bougainville)

	Buin  Buin* Motuna (Siwai)* Uisai Nasioi: Koromira, Lantanai, Naasioi*, Nagovisi (Sibe)**, Oune, Simeku

• Central Solomon family

	Bilua* (Vella Lavella Island) Touo (Baniata)* (southern Rendova Island, part of the New Georgia Islands) Lavukaleve* (Russell Islands) Savosavo* (Savo Island)

* Dunn and colleagues found no demonstrable shared vocabulary between these fifteen languages.

** Ross considered these four languages in addition to the fifteen studied by Dunn and colleagues.

True language isolates

These three languages are not thought to be demonstrably related to each other or to any language in the world.

• Sulka isolate* – New Britain (poor data quality; the possibility remains that Sulka will be shown to be related to Kol or Baining)
• Kol isolate* – New Britain
• Kuot (Panaras) isolate* – New Ireland

* Dunn and colleagues found no demonstrable shared vocabulary between these fifteen languages.

Austronesian languages formerly classified as East Papuan

Wurm classified the three languages of the Santa Cruz and Reef Islands as an additional family within East Papuan. However, new data on these languages, along with advances in the reconstruction of Proto-Oceanic, has made it clear that they are in fact Austronesian:

• Reefs – Santa Cruz languages: Santa Cruz, Nanggu, Äiwoo

Similarly, Wurm had classified the extinct Kazukuru language and its possible sister languages of New Georgia as a sixth branch of East Papuan. However, in a joint 2007 paper, Dunn and Ross argued that this was also Austronesian.

• Kazukuru family: Kazukuru language

Lexical comparison

The tables below give lexical comparisons for the East Papuan languages (i.e., all Papuan languages spoken in New Britain and islands to the east), with languages listed roughly from west to east. All lexical items are from the Trans-New Guinea database^[1] unless noted otherwise.

Body parts

family	language	head	hair	ear	eye	nose	tooth	tongue	leg	blood	bone	skin	breast
isolate	Ata[2]			sangalie	iei	usine'i	anaxu ilaanu (anaxu = 'mouth')	levexe	tava'a	sialuxu	xine	vasime'a	susu
isolate	Anêm[3]	og	ki	gêt	ei	piŋi	lo	êlêŋ	ti 'foot'	esin	exe	palau
isolate	Kol	'kel.a; kela keřne	'komɒ; komɔʔ kalɛane	'bula; bula kɛřlɛ	pelnɛl; 'penel	ta'li:; tali keřne	'mire; mi̠řɛ kɛřnɛ	dal kɛřnɛ; raal	pe:re	'be:la	'ti:le	tomalu gomo; to'molu	'tombo; to̠to la̠nɛ
isolate	Sulka[4]	lpek	ngiris	ngaela		vorngap				ɨndiɨl		ptaik
Baining	Mali (Arambum dialect)	uʷʌski	ǥʌsɛŋ	asdɛmgi	saǥoŋ	ulɩmgi	ǥɛŋ	ǥɔbɩnga	aǥař	abⁱʌska	atlɨp	ŋᶺndᶺŋ	ǥumukʰ
Baining	Qaget	niŋaǥa; ʌ niŋʌg̶ʌ	aǥsiŋ; ʌg̶asiŋ	asⁿdəmgi; sᵊdᵊmki	ʌ rʌsʌkŋiʌm; saknaǥa	ǥəřɩmki; ʌ rʌg̶ʌrimgi	ařkiŋ; ařkingi	ǥalbiⁿka; og̶lbinga	ʌ laiŋyat; ɩlaⁱŋ	ʌg̶ʌřʌkʌ; ǥᵊřᵊka	lan; sləpki	ǥət·dinki; ʌrʌgʌtdəŋit	ǥomʌk; og̶əmək
Baining	Ura	amʌ niŋʌǥi; auwʌski; ʌmʌ niŋʌǥɩ	aɣʌsɛŋ; kʌsiŋ; kʌsɩŋ	asdʌmgi; dʌsdəmgɩ; dʌsdəmgi	asauɣoŋ; ʌ̂ sʌǥon; ʌ sʌǥoŋ	awʌlyʌmgi; ʌ ǥulimgɩ; ʌ ǥulimgi	atkiŋgi; ʌ ǥʌřʌ; naeyɛŋ; næyɛŋ	aɣuebunga; duɛbingʌ	ʌgʌřʌ	a biaska; biʌskʌ	a Lləp; ʌ Lləp; o slʌpki	aslɩɣɩge; ʌ sliyɩgɛ; ʌ sliyigɛ	at gəmuk; atkʌmuk
Taulil–Butam	Taulil	'ulun	'dɔmɔn	ul-tʌŋʌn	'kɔlmʌřɩn	'bulsun	'lɩgim; lɩkɩn	ul-kɛmɛn	fʌn	dɛh	'suhnʌ 'kunʌ	pʰʌlkⁿeⁱn; pʰʌlɩn	susun
isolate	Kuot	bukom	kapuruma	kikinəm	irəma	akabunima; ŋof	laukima	məlobiem		oləbuan	muanəm	kumalip; neip; pəppək	sisima
North Bougainville	Rotokas[5]	uvu	orui	uvareoua	osireito	iruvaoto	reuri	arevuoto	kokotoa	revasiva	kerua	areiua; kakauoa; gago	rorooua
South Bougainville	proto-South Bougainville[6]	*bore		*rome	*rutɔ	*keni		*meneŋ		*ereŋ	*kōna
Central Solomons	Mbilua (Ndovele dialect)	lezu	tou	taliŋa	vilu	ŋgame	taka	leño	kiti	ndara	piza	tupu	susu
Central Solomons	Mbaniata (Lokuru dialect)	uɔ	zufu	ōŋgoto	mberɔ	emɔ	nāne	ānl	ɔe	vo	minu	zuɔna	susu
Central Solomons	Lavukaleve	vatu	memea	hovul	lemi	sisi	neo	let	tau furime	ravu	sosokio	keut	ɔfu
Central Solomons	Savosavo	batu	luta; sivuɰa	tagalu	nito	ɲoko	nale	lapi		ɰabu	tovolo	korakora	susu
isolate	Yélî Dnye[7]	ny:oo	gh:aa	ngweńe	ngwolo	ń:uu	nyóó	dêê	yi	wêê	dînê	too	ngmo

Nature

family	language	louse	dog	pig	bird	egg	tree	sun	moon	water	fire	stone	path
isolate	Ata	meni	a'aa	memee	ngiala	atolu	aiinu; ovu	aso	so'io	lexa	navu	lavo'o	vote'i
isolate	Anem	seim	kaua		êknîn	nil	aŋ	ado	klîŋ	komu	kmî	pa	iuŋ
isolate	Kol	'tare; ta̠řɛ	ku'ɒ:; kwa	bu	'ule; ulɛ	'kondola; kondo̠la	'ti:nel; ti̠nɛl	'karege; kařɛ̠qɛ	'igu; i̠qu	'gonu; qu̠nu	ku'oŋ; kuɔŋ	'lela; lɛla	kɛrɛa; 'keria
isolate	Sulka				ngaining		ho			yi			ngaelot, ngaelaut
Baining	Mali (Arambum dialect)	it	imga	ƀɛmgaʰ	i sʌmga	la	ŋumuŋ	ʷunɛŋga	'aǥɔngi	řiŋgi	mudʌmbʌs	diǥa	iskaʰ
Baining	Qaget	ᶩaⁱt; ʌ ɛɛtki	daŋka; ʌ dʌŋgʌ	ƀiləmgʌ; ƀlam	waⁱṱki; ʌ wʌitka	luaǥa; ʌ luʌg̶ʌ	mʌŋkʰa; munkʌ	ʌ niřag̶a; niřaǥa; nɩlaǥa	yaǥunki; ʌ yɔg̶ungi	ǥřapki; ʌ kʌinʌg̶i	altiŋki; ʌltiŋgi	ʌ dulkʌ; dulka	aiskʌ; aⁱska
Baining	Ura	məaᶥt; məaⁱt; ɩr̰aɩt	imga; mɛmgʌ	ƀɩɛmgʌ; ƀiɛmgʌ; wemga	ɛɛ'sumgʌ; ɛɛsumgʌ; isʌmga	duřaiṱ; duřaᶥt̯; luaɣa	ʌ muŋgʌ; ŋʌmuga	ɣunʌga; wunʌgʌ	yaǥunǥɩ; yaɣungi; yʌǥungi	mʌřiŋgi; mʌřɩŋgɩ; rigi	mundʌbʌs; mundʌm	duɩɣa; mʌ duɩ; mʌ dui	iska; mʌiskʌ; mʌɩskʌ
Taulil–Butam	Taulil	huᵗ	luf	bui	sɩgʌʔ	'kʰɔřɔl	waⁱ	wʌsuʔ	'kɛᵐbɛn	'mʌlum	yʌf	fʌᵗ	ŋas
isolate	Kuot	ineima	kapuna		amani; kobeŋ	dəkər; səgər		panbinim	uləŋ	burunəm; danuot	kit	adəs	alaŋ
North Bougainville	Rotokas	iirui	kaakau; kevira	koie; koue	kokioto	takura	evaova	ravireo	kekira	uukoa	tuitui	aveke	raiva
South Bougainville	proto-South Bougainville		*masika		*bɔrege		*koi	*rua		*doŋ
Central Solomons	Mbilua (Ndovele dialect)	sipi; tiŋgau	siele		mbiaŋambiaŋa	tɔruru			kamboso	nĵu	uza	lando	keve
Central Solomons	Mbaniata (Lokuru dialect)	lisa; vutu	sie		mānozo	āndena			īndi	fiɔ	hirɔ	hɛŋga	e
Central Solomons	Lavukaleve	kea; lai	mitakeu		malaɣul	keruv			kua	lafi	lake	mbeko; veko	lake
Central Solomons	Savosavo	dole	misu		kosu	kolei; si			kuɰe	piva	keda	kato	keva
isolate	Yélî Dnye	y:emê wee	w:ââ	mbwêmê	ńmê; ńmo	w:uu	yi	kââdî	d:ââ	mbwaa; tolo	ndê; ndyuw:e	chêêpî	maa

Miscellaneous

family	language	man	woman	name	to eat	one	two
isolate	Ata	aliko	sema	uala	’ie	vile	tamei
isolate	Anem	axaŋ	dobalîŋ	eŋi		mîdê	niak
isolate	Kol	mo; tɒ: 'ti:niŋ	daiƀɛ; ra:l	'ole	mo raŋ kal oŋ; tam·a	'pusuɒ; titus	tɛřɛŋ; te'tepe
isolate	Sulka	mhel 'person'
Baining	Mali (Arambum dialect)	umʌska	aƀopᵊkin	ŋʌrɩpkiʰ	katɨs	sɛgɨkʰ	udion
Baining	Qaget	ǥʷatka; ʌ g̶wʌtkʌ	nanki; ʌ nʌngi	dʸiʌringi namgi; řɨnki	ka tɨs; kʌ tᵊs	ǥʷanaska; og̶unʌskʌ	ǥʷanasⁱam; og̶unʌsiʌm
Baining	Ura	gamoɛɣa; gʌmuɛgʌ	ɛwəpkɩ; ɛwəpki; Ewopki	diŋyiřipki; diŋyɩrɩpkɩ; ŋʌr̰iþki	ɣat tʌs; ka ts; kʌ tᵊs	sɩgʌk; sʌgʌk; sigʌk	undiom; undɩom
Taulil–Butam	Taulil	bʌᵏ; taⁱ	lʌᵘ	'wɔᵘsɩn	ŋʌnɩʔ; nʌm	ikʌᵘ; kaᵘkʌʔ	'daU; iⁿdʌᵘ
isolate	Kuot	mikana; teima	makabun	bonim	o; parak	namurit	narain
North Bougainville	Rotokas	rare pie	avuo	vaisia	aio	katai	erao
South Bougainville	proto-South Bougainville	*nugaŋ		*mīŋ	*nai
Central Solomons	Mbilua (Ndovele dialect)	mamba	reko	ŋi	vuato	mandeu	omuŋga
Central Solomons	Mbaniata (Lokuru dialect)	finɔzɔ	ŋgohe	nini	azafe	āroŋo; thufi	ēri
Central Solomons	Lavukaleve	ali	aira	laŋi	eu; eui; oune	dom; tetelom	lelal; lemal
Central Solomons	Savosavo	tada	adaki	nini	l-ou; samu	ela; pade	edo
isolate	Yélî Dnye	pi	kumbwada; pyââ	pi	ma	ngmidi	miyó

See also

• Papuan languages

References

1. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
2. Hashimoto, Kazuo (2008). Ata-English Dictionary with English-Ata Finderlist. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
3. Thurston, William. 1982. A comparative study of Anêm and Lusi. Pacific Linguistics: Series B, 83. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
4. Tharp, Douglas. 1996. Sulka grammar essentials. In John M. Clifton (ed.), Two non-Austronesian grammars from the islands, 77-179. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
5. Firchow, Irwin B. and Jacqueline Firchow, compilers. 2008. Rotokas-English dictionary. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
6. Evans, Bethwyn. 2009. Beyond pronouns: further evidence for South Bougainville. In Bethwyn Evans (ed.), Discovering history through language: Papers in honour of Malcolm Ross, 73-101. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
7. Henderson, James E. and Anne Henderson, compilers. 1999. Rossel to English, English to Rossel Dictionary. Dictionaries of Papua New Guinea, Vol. 9. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

• Dunn, Michael; Ger Reesink; Angela Terrill (June 2002). "The East Papuan languages: a preliminary typological appraisal". Oceanic Linguistics. 41 (1): 28–62. doi:10.1353/ol.2002.0019. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0013-1ADC-1. OCLC 89720097. S2CID 143012930.
• Dunn, Michael; Angela Terrill; Ger Reesink; Robert A. Foley; Stephen C. Levinson (2005-09-23). "Structural Phylogenetics and the Reconstruction of Ancient Language History". Science. 309 (5743): 2072–75. Bibcode:2005Sci...309.2072D. doi:10.1126/science.1114615. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0013-1B84-E. OCLC 111923848. PMID 16179483. S2CID 2963726.
• Dunn, Michael; Malcolm Ross (2007). "Is Kazukuru really non-Austronesian?" (PDF). Oceanic Linguistics. 46: 210–231. doi:10.1353/ol.2007.0018. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0013-1EBB-9. S2CID 146355432.
• Ross, Malcolm (2001). "Is there an East Papuan phylum? Evidence from pronouns". In Andrew Pawley; Malcolm Ross; Darrell Tryon (eds.). The boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 301–322. ISBN 978-0-85883-445-3. OCLC 48651069.
• 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.
• Wurm, Stephen A. (1975). "The East Papuan phylum in general". In Stephen A. Wurm (ed.). 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. 783–804. OCLC 37096514.