Engan languages explained

Engan
Also Known As:	Enga–Kewa–Huli Enga – Southern Highlands
Region:	New Guinea
Familycolor:	Papuan
Fam1:	Trans–New Guinea or Papuan Gulf?
Child1:	North (Engan)
Child2:	South (Kewa–Huli)
Glotto:	enga1254
Glottorefname:	Enga–Kewa–Huli
Map:	Engan languages.svg
Mapcaption:	Map: The Engan languages of New Guinea

The Engan languages, or more precisely Enga–Kewa–Huli or Enga – Southern Highland, are a small family of Papuan languages of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The two branches of the family are rather distantly related, but were connected by Franklin and Voorhoeve (1973).^[1]

Name

The name "Engan" is often restricted to the northern branch of the family, to those languages transparently related to Enga, but also sometimes to the family as a whole.

Languages

The languages fall into three quite distinct branches: Engan proper, Huli, and Southern Highlands:

• North Engan (Engan proper): Enga–Kyaka–Lembena, Ipili, Bisorio (Nete, Iniai)
• South Engan (Kewa–Huli)
  • Huli
  • Southern Highlands: Angal (Mendi), Kewa; Samberigi (Sau)

Classification

The Engan family constitutes a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Wurm and of Malcolm Ross, but the evidence for this is weak.

Usher links the Engan and Chimbu languages in a Central New Guinea Highlands family.^[2]

There are a considerable number of resemblances with Wiru. Borrowing has not been ruled out as the reason for this, though the pronouns are similar as well.

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:^[3]

m	n
p	t		k
mb	nd		ŋg
w	l	j

Vowels are *i *e *a *o *u.

Pronouns

Pronouns are easy to reconstruct for the northern and southern branches, but much more difficult for Engan as a whole. Ross (2005) has the following for the singular, Wiru has been added for comparison:

	pEngan	N Engan	S Engan	Wiru
1	nə	na-ba	ní	no (gen. anu)
2	ne-ke	ne-ba	ne-ke	ne (gen. ne-ke)
3	?	ba	[n]i-bu	one

Usher (2020) has not yet published reconstruction of Engan as a whole, but has done Engan proper:^[4]

Engan proper! !!sg!!du!!pl

1	na(-mba)	nali(-mba)	nani(-ma)
2	ni(-mba)
3	[e]-mba

Vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-Trans Enga (Proto-Engan) by Usher (2020) are:^[3]

gloss	Proto-Trans-Enga	Proto-Southern Highlands	Huli
name	ŋge	[i]mbi	mi-ni
fire/tree	ita	ti	iɾa
moon	kana	eke, *jumba	ege
four	tumenda	mala	ma-
path	kaita	pota	haɾiga
stand	kata	ka	ha
cassowary	laima	jati	jaɾi
skin	jan[o/u]	joŋgale	doŋgo-ne

Modern reflexes

The Enga-Kewa-Huli reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma, if Engan languages are indeed members of the Trans-New Guinea family, are:^[5]

Enga

• mona ‘heart’ < *mundun
• yaka ‘bird’ < *
• lyaŋa ‘ashes’ < *
• ŋaŋa ‘baby < *ŋaŋ(a)
• ‘mother’ < *
• kuri ‘bone’ < *kondaC
• kare ‘ear’ < *
• ne- ‘eat’ < *na
• ‘father’ < *apa
• iti ‘hair’ < *
• endo ‘fire’ < *
• lema ‘louse’ < *niman
• kana ‘moon’ < *
• mana ‘instructions’ < *mana
• kitama ‘morning’ < *
• kumi- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• re- ‘speak’ < *nde-
• maa ‘taro’ < *mV
• ita ‘tree’ < *inda

Huli

• ega ‘bird’ < *
• na- ‘eat’ < *na-
• aba ‘father’ < *apa
• iri ‘hair’ < *
• ira ‘tree’ < *inda
• ma ‘taro’ < *mV

Kewa

• ama ‘mother’ < *
• ibi ‘name’ < *imbi
• iri ‘hair’ < *
• uni ‘bone’ < *kwanjaC
• apu ‘tail’ < *
• lema ‘louse’ < *
• oma ‘die’ < *kumV-
• reka- ‘stand’ < *
• la- ‘talk’ < *nde-
• maa ‘taro’ < *mV
• yaa ‘bird’ < *

Mendi

• am ‘mother’ < *
• ap ‘father’ < *apa
• mbi ‘name’ < *imbi
• ome- ‘die’ < *kumV-

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Enga and Kewa from William A. Foley (1986). The pairs of words are not necessarily cognate.^[6]

gloss		Kewa
‘two’	rama	laapo
‘man’	akari	ali
‘water’	ipa	ipa
‘fire’	ita	repona
‘tree’	ita	are
‘leaf’	yoko	yo
‘root’	pingi	pitaa
‘house’	ada	ada
‘breast’	adu	adu
‘tooth’	nege	agaa
‘bone’	kori	kuli
‘ear’	kare	kale
‘hair’	iti	iri
‘leg’	kape	aa
‘blood’	kupapu	kupaa
‘hand’	ruma	ki
‘egg’	kapa	yaa apaa
‘sun’	nita	nare
‘axe’	patama	rai
‘netbag’	nuu	nu
‘eat’	ne-	na-
‘die’	kumi-	koma-
‘say’	re-	la-
‘give’	mai-/gi-	gi-
‘big’	adake	adaa

Further reading

• Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Engan. TransNewGuinea.org.

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Enga – Southern Highlands
  • (ibid.) Trans-Enga

Notes and References

1. Karl J. Franklin and C. L. Voorhoeve. 1973. Languages near the intersection of the Gulf, Southern Highlands and Western Districts. In Karl J. Franklin (ed.), The linguistic situation in the Gulf District and adjacent areas, Papua New Guinea, 149-186. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
2. https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/central-new-guinea-highlands/start
3. Web site: Enga  - Southern Highlands . New Guinea World . 2024-07-20 .
4. https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/central-new-guinea-highlands/enga-southern-highlands/trans-enga/start New Guinea World, Trans-Enga
5. 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.
6. Foley, William A. (1986). The Papuan Languages of New Guinea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .