Mek languages explained

Mek
Also Known As:	Goliath
Ethnicity:	Mek people and Yali people
Region:	New Guinea
Familycolor:	Papuan
Fam1:	Trans–New Guinea
Fam2:	Central West New Guinea
Fam3:	Momuna–Mek^[1]
Glotto:	mekk1240
Glottorefname:	Mek
Map:	Mek languages.svg
Mapcaption:	Map: The Mek languages of New Guinea

The Mek languages are a well established family of Papuan languages spoken by the Mek people and Yali people. They form a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages (TNG) in the classifications of Stephen Wurm (1975) and of Malcolm Ross (2005).

Mek, then called Goliath, was identified by M. Bromley in 1967. It was placed in TNG by Wurm (1975).

Languages

The Mek languages form three dialect chains (Heeschen 1998):

• Eastern: Ketengban (including Okbap, Omban, Bime, Onya), Una (Goliath), Eipomek
• Northern: Kosarek Yale–Nipsan, Nalca
• Western: Korupun-Sela (including Dagi, Sisibna, Deibula)

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant and vowel inventories as 'perhaps' as follows:^[2]

m	n		ŋ
p	t		k	kʷ
(m)b	(n)d		(ŋ)g	(ŋ)gʷ
	s
w	l	j

i		u
e		o
ɛ		ɔ
	a	ɒ

ei	ou
ɛi	ɔu
ai	au
aɛ	aɔ

Pronouns

Pronouns are:^[2]

	sg	pl
1	na	nu[n]
2	kan	kun (?)
3	ɛl	tun, *[t/s]ig

The difference between the two 3pl forms is not known. 2pl and 3pl have parallels in Momuna /kun tun/.

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:^[2]

gloss	Proto-Mek	Proto-East Mek	Kimyal	Proto-Northwest Mek	Proto-Momuna-Mek	Momuna
hair/feather	p[ɔ]t[ɔ]ŋ	pɔtɔŋ	osoŋ	hɔŋ
ear/twelve	aᵓ		ɔ	aᵓ
eye	atiŋ	asiŋ	isiŋ	haⁱŋ	ɒtig	ɒtù
tooth/sharp	jo̝				jo̝	jó
tongue	se̝l[ija]mu	[se̝]l[ija]mu	selamu	se̝l[i]mu
foot/leg	jan	jan	jan	jan	j[a/ɒ]n
blood	e̝ne̝ŋ	ɪnɪŋ	eneŋ	e̝ne̝ŋ	jo̝ne̝g
bone	jɔk	jɔk	jw-aʔ	jɔʔ[ɔ]
breast	mɔᵘm	mɔᵘm	moᵘm	mɔᵘm	mɔᵘm	mɒ̃ᵘ
louse	ami	ami	imi	ami	ami	ami
dog	gam	[k/g]am	gam	gam	gɒm	kɒ̀
pig	be̝sam	bɪsam		bham		wɒ́
bird	mak, *mag	mak	-ma (?)	-ma (?)	mak	má
egg/fruit/seed	do̝[k]	dʊk	do	do̝[k]		dɒko ~ dɒku
tree/wood	gal		gal	gal	gɒl	kɒ̀
woman/wife	ge̝l	[k/g]ɪl	gel	ge̝l
sun	k[ɛ]t[e̝]ŋ	k[ɛ]t[ɪ]ŋ	isiŋ	he̝ŋ
moon	wal	wal	wal	wal
water/river	m[ɛ/a]g	mɛk	mag	m[ɛ/a]g
fire	o̝ᵘg	ʊᵘk	ug	[u]g
stone	gɛⁱl; *gidig	[k/g]ɛⁱl	girig	gidig		kè
path/way	bi[t/s]ig	bi[t/s]ik	bisig	bhig
name	si	si	si	si	si	si
eat/drink	de̝-(b)	dɪ-(b)	de-	de̝-(b)		de-
one	[na]tɔn	tɔn	nason	nhɔn
two/ring finger	b[e̝/ɛ]te̝ne̝	b[ɪ/ɛ]tɪnɪ	besene	bhe̝ne̝

Modern reflexes

Mek reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:^[3]

Eipo language

• mun ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
• kuna ‘shadow’ < *k(a,o)nan
• saŋ ‘dancing song’ < *saŋ
• getane ‘sun’ < *kVtane

Bime language

• mundo ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’

Kosarek language

• ami ‘louse’ < *niman
• si ‘tooth’ < *(s,t)i(s,t)i
• tomo < *k(i,u)tuma ‘night’

Yale language

• de ‘to burn’ < *nj(a,e,i)
• mon ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
• xau ‘ashes’ < *kambu

Further reading

• Heeschen, Volker. 1978. The Mek languages of Irian Jaya with special reference to the Eipo language. Irian 7(2): 3–46.
• Heeschen, Volker. 1992. The position of the Mek languages of Irian Jaya among the Papuan languages: History, typology and speech. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 148(3/4): 465–488.

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Momuna–Mek
• (ibid.) Proto–Mek

Notes and References

1. https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/trans-new-guinea/central-west-new-guinea/momuna-mek Momuna–Mek, New Guinea World
2. https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/trans-new-guinea/central-west-new-guinea/momuna-mek/mek New Guinea World
3. Book: Pawley . Andrew . Hammarström . Harald . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . The Trans New Guinea family . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 21–196 . 978-3-11-028642-7.