Arapesh languages explained

Arapesh
Region:eastern Sandaun Province and northern East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Ethnicity:Arapesh people
Familycolor:Papuan
Fam1:Torricelli
Child1:Bukiyip (Mountain)
Child2:Bumbita
Child3:Mufian (Southern)
Child4:Abu'
Glotto:arap1279
Glottorefname:Arapesh
Map:Torricelli_languages_map.svg
Mapcaption:The Torricelli languages as classified by Foley (2018)

The Arapesh languages are several closely related Torricelli languages of the 32,000 Arapesh people of Papua New Guinea. They are spoken in eastern Sandaun Province and northern East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.

The Arapesh languages are among the better-studied of Papuan languages and are most distinctive in their gender systems, which contain up to thirteen genders (noun classes) with noun-phrase concordance. Mufian, for example, has 17 noun classes for count nouns plus two extra noun classes, i.e. proper names and place names.[1] (See that article for examples.)

Phonology

The most notable feature of the Arapesh phoneme inventory is the use of labialization as a contrastive device.

Consonants

BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Stoppronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Fricativepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Flappronounced as /ink/
Lateralpronounced as /ink/

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Highpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Midpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Lowpronounced as /ink/

Arapesh syllables have the structure (C)V(V)(C), though monosyllables always contain coda consonants.

Higher central vowels /ɨ ə/ sometimes break up consonant clusters in the middle of words.

Pronouns

Pronouns in Arapesh and other related Torricelli languages:[2]

Kombio Mountain
Arapesh
Southern
Arapesh
Urim Urat Aruop Kayik
apm yek~eik aeʔ kupm ŋam am kəmex
yikn ɲak~ɲek inəʔ kitn nin yi kiyox
kɨl ənan~nani ənən kil kin din təno
an(t) okok~kwakwi apə men poi mendi kupox

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from the Trans-New Guinea database.[3]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. bʌrʌkʰa, berag for “head”) or not (e.g. ɛligʌ, atah for “ear”).

gloss Abu' Arapesh[4] Bukiyip[5]
headbʌrʌkʰa berag
hairbʌrʌkʰa
earɛligʌ atah
eyeŋʌim nabep
nosemutu
toothnʌluh nau̥h̥
tongueʌhʌkʌ jaham
legburʔah aijag
lousenumunʌl
dognubʌt nybat
pigbul
birdʌlimil aramir
eggʌlhuʌb juhuryb
bloodusibɛl ausibør
bonepisitʌnʌgel bøløpigør
skinbeni'koh jageniu̥h̥
breastnumʌb
treelʌ·wʌk lawag
manʌʔlemʌn araman
womannumʌto ara- matoku
sunuʔwʌh aun
moon'ʌ'un aun
waterʌbʌl bør
fireunih nih̥
stoneutʌm utom
road, pathiʌh
nameɛigil
eat'nʌsʌh
oneetin
twobiəs bium

Grammar

Recent shifts have moved Arapesh languages from the typical Papuan SOV to a SVO order, along with a corresponding shift in adpositional order. Most modifiers usually precede the noun, though as a result of changes in word order genitives and nouns do not have a fixed order.

The language's unique gender system is largely based on the ending of the noun. There are cognate pairings of each gender for singular and plural numbers. The whole gender system, unlike most of the comparable complexity in Niger–Congo languages, is sex-based: Gender IV is for all female beings and Gender VII for male ones. Arapesh culture forbids the use of personal names, so that kinship nouns are used extensively to address even intimate relatives.

Arapesh languages also have a system of verbal nouns: there by default belong to gender VIII.

Gender agreement, along with that for person and number, occurs with all adjectives, numerals and interrogative pronouns and the subject and object of verbs. Verbs in Arapesh languages are inflected by means of prefixes. The basic template for this inflection is the order SUBJECT-MOOD-ROOT.

External links

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Alungum, John . Miscellaneous Papers on Dobu and Arapesh . Conrad . Robert J. . Lukas . Joshua . 1978 . Summer Institute of Linguistics . Loving . Richard . Ukarumpa . 89–130 . en . Some Muhiang Grammatical Notes . https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/23835.
  2. Book: Foley, William A. . William A. Foley . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 197–432 . 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. Web site: Greenhill . Simon . 2016 . Language Family: Torricelli . 2020-11-05 . TransNewGuinea.org.
  4. Summer Institute of Linguistics Language Survey of Abu, 1975.
  5. Laycock . D. C. . Donald Laycock . 1968 . Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea . Oceanic Linguistics . 7 . 1 . 36–66 . 10.2307/3622846 . 3622846.