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 *ka exclusive we *kia- ? inclusive we *bile ? thou *je you ? s/he *ihe they *ihe- ?

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

Border family pronouns Taikat Kilmeri Amanab Waris Imonda 1incl nuko bi pi pəl 1excl ku ko ka ka ka 2 kebe de ~ ne ne ye ne 3 yɛ ki ehe hi ehe

Cognates

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

Border family cognates gloss Awyi / Taikat Kilmeri Waris / Imonda ‘bone’ sagər kili kəl ‘cloud’ tik tik ‘eat’ na- ni- ne- ‘egg’ sur su sui ‘eye’ nondof dob nof ‘house’ ya yip yɛf ‘moon’ usɛ wɪs wɛs ‘sun’ kɛwom ɒkɒmba ‘tongue’ mariel ber məde ‘tooth’ lu lɒ ‘tree’ di ri ti ‘water’ obea pu po

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”).

gloss Awyi Taikat Manem Sowanda Viid Waris head naŋger; naŋgər bagər bagar mosok repek ku hair jento; ta bakta; tar; tat ta mog-tse; mog-tše tea; tɛa ear keato keat kafŋe oŋgok aten aŋku eye najo; nayo nondor nof rugok now nop nose nubru nakan past bosok peŋe lomus tooth ka kaembi so nunalk lelo tongue marie mte melik ro minde leg malke təka mogor miŋgak moŋla moŋgola louse tu kue ku ku dog eəl; wŋl ur ure; urê wandr unde pig wot wot aŋ; ar ogtse sar mejan; sar meyan mi bird noj; noy nor joŋ jor; yoŋ; yor teafu tuawa egg suŋul sur suiŋ; suir suk tu suul blood keane jafor; yafor psoŋko tap nine towol bone sakər sagər kaŋ; kar kek ke kəi; kəl skin fəker fager; fagɛr tofŋo; tofro lopok kep towol breast mə̃ mɛ maŋ; mar tot mandr tɛt tree ti di ti ti ti man kir kir knigiŋ; knigir owak du tənda woman kuru koraha jaman uŋwabe jemena ŋguabe sun mentao kewom; kɛwom usam okomba pola okumba moon kuŋgəru usɛ wes wules wos wɛs water wobia; wobio obea pu poa po po fire tao dow saw sue tow sue stone ser sər suk xun kwondr hon road, path məŋgir meo monofo mna mona muna name unha nabae eat anɛ; na na na nekem; nɛkɛm na ne one maŋgua ŋgoa; [ŋgoa] gueno moŋgoir moŋgau muŋasəl two naŋger sampaŋ sambaga tambla sambla

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:. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC .

External links