Border languages (New Guinea)

The Border or Upper Tami languages are an independent family of Papuan languages in Malcolm Ross's version of the Trans–New Guinea proposal.

Unlike the neighboring Sepik languages and many other Papuan language families of northern New Guinea, Border languages do not have grammatical gender or number (dual and plural forms).

Name

The Border family is named after the Indonesia–Papua New Guinea border, which it spans. Other than the Border languages, the Skou, Senagi, Pauwasi, Anim, and Yam families also span the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Classification history

Cowan (1957) tentatively proposed a "Tami" family, named after the Tami River, that included the modern Border and Sko language families. Some of the previously unclassified languages turned out to be Sko and were added to that family; the remainder (including the languages of the upper Tami) constitute the Border family.

Languages

Laycock classified Morwap as an isolate but noted pronominal similarities with Border. Ross included Morwap in Border but noted that they do not appear to share any lexical similarities. However, he had quite poor Morwap data. Usher included it as a branch of Border.

Foley (2018)

Foley (2018) provides the following classification.

Border family

• Taikat: Auyi, Taikat
• Bewani: Ainbai, Kilmeri, Ningera, Pagi
• Waris: Amanab, Auwe (Simog), Daonda, Imonda, Manem, Senggi (Viid), Waina (Sowanda), Waris

Usher (2020)

The Border languages are:

Usher does not mention Ningera and subsumes it into another language.

Pronouns

The pronouns that Ross (2005) reconstructs for Proto-Border are the following:

I*kaexclusive we*kia-? inclusive we*bile? thou*jeyou? s/he*ihethey*ihe-?

Foley (2018) lists pronouns for the following five Border languages.

Border family pronouns TaikatKilmeriAmanabWarisImonda 1incl nukobipipəl 1excl kukokakaka 2 kebede ~ neneyene 3 yɛkiehehiehe

Cognates

Border family cognates (Awyi, Taikat, Kilmeri, Waris, Imonda) listed by Foley (2018):

Border family cognates glossAwyi / TaikatKilmeriWaris / Imonda ‘bone’sagərkilikəl ‘cloud’tiktik ‘eat’na-ni-ne- ‘egg’sursusui ‘eye’nondofdobnof ‘house’yayipyɛf ‘moon’usɛwɪswɛs ‘sun’kɛwomɒkɒmba ‘tongue’marielberməde ‘tooth’lulɒ ‘tree’diriti ‘water’obeapupo

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.

The words cited constitute translation equivalents whether they are cognate (e.g. mogor, moŋla, moŋgola for “leg”) or not (e.g. nakan, past, bosok for “nose”).

glossAwyiTaikatManemSowandaViidWaris head naŋger; naŋgərbagərbagarmosokrepekku hair jento; tabakta; tar; tattamog-tse; mog-tšetea; tɛa ear keatokeatkafŋeoŋgokatenaŋku eye najo; nayonondornofrugoknownop nose nubrunakanpastbosokpeŋelomus tooth kakaembisonunalklelo tongue mariemtemelikrominde leg malketəkamogormiŋgakmoŋlamoŋgola louse tukuekuku dog eəl; wŋlurure; urêwandrunde pig wotwotaŋ; arogtsesar mejan; sar meyanmi bird noj; noynorjoŋ jor; yoŋ; yorteafutuawa egg suŋulsursuiŋ; suirsuktusuul blood keanejafor; yaforpsoŋkotapninetowol bone sakərsagərkaŋ; karkekkekəi; kəl skin fəkerfager; fagɛrtofŋo; tofrolopokkeptowol breast mə̃mɛmaŋ; martotmandrtɛt tree tiditititi man kirkirknigiŋ; knigirowakdutənda woman kurukorahajamanuŋwabejemenaŋguabe sun mentaokewom; kɛwomusamokombapolaokumba moon kuŋgəruusɛweswuleswoswɛs water wobia; wobioobeapupoapopo fire taodowsawsuetowsue stone sersərsukxunkwondrhon road, path məŋgirmeomonofomnamonamuna name unhanabae eat anɛ; nanananekem; nɛkɛmnane one maŋguaŋgoa; [ŋgoa]guenomoŋgoirmoŋgaumuŋasəl two naŋgersampaŋsambagatamblasambla

Migration history

Between 200 and 250 years ago, Bewani-speakers rapidly expanded and migrated towards neighboring regions, which started off chain migrations among various peoples of the region. The migration of Bewani-speakers split up the territory of Kwomtari-speakers, and Fas was displaced to the swampy area of Utai (3°23′26″S 141°35′02″E/3.390507°S 141.583997°E/ -3.390507; 141.583997(Utai)). The displaced Fas-speakers then expanded further east into One territory, which caused conflicts between the Fas and One peoples in the Kabore area (3°18′51″S 141°50′27″E/3.314106°S 141.840799°E/ -3.314106; 141.840799(Kabore 1)).

The Pagei, Bewani, Bo, and Ningera peoples expanded down the Pual River to displace speakers of Inner Skou and Serra Hills languages. Inner Skou speakers were then forced to migrate and discplaced Barupu/Warapu-speakers (Piore River branch). Bewani-speakers, however, could expand eastward into the lowland swampy areas occupied by speakers of Busa and Yale, who were themselves pushed out of the more fertile hills into the lowland swamps. Westward expansion of Bewani-speakers was halted by fighting in Kaure territory.

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. doi:. ISBN0858835622. OCLC.

External links