| Kwalean | |
| Also Known As: | Humene–Uare |
| Region: | Southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea: Central Province |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Trans–New Guinea |
| Fam2: | Papuan Peninsula |
| Fam3: | Owen Stanley Range[1] |
| Glotto: | kwal1257 |
| Glottorefname: | Kwalean |
The Kwalean or Humene–Uare languages are a small family of Trans - New Guinea languages spoken in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans - New Guinea.
The Kwalean languages are spoken in Rigo District, Central Province, Papua New Guinea.[2]
The languages are Humene, Uare (Kwale) and recently extinct Mulaha. It is not clear if Mulaha was an outlier, or as close to the others as they are to each other.
Humene and Uare are quite close (70% basic vocabulary), Mulaha more distant (22% with Uare).
The Kwalean family is not accepted by Søren Wichmann (2013), who splits it into two separate groups, namely Humene–Uare and Mulaha.[3]
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory of Humene and Uare as follows:[4]
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Vowels are *i *e *ɛ *a *ɔ *o *u.
Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns of Humene–Uare as:[4]
| sg | pl | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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| 2 |
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| 3 |
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Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[4]
| gloss | Proto-Humene-Uare | Humene | Uare | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hair/feather |
| ˈiʔu | ˈiku | |
| eye |
| uˈbuma | uˈbuma | |
| nose |
| ʒaˈʒoɾe | ʒaˈʒoɾe | |
| tooth |
| βoˈnone | ɣoˈnone | |
| tongue |
| maˈnane | maˈʒane | |
| foot/leg |
| ˈoda | ˈida | |
| blood |
| ɾoˈo | ˈɾoˈu | |
| bone |
| eˈhine | iˈsine | |
| skin |
| aˈheɾe | aˈhiɾi | |
| breast |
| nuˈune | nuˈne | |
| louse |
| noˈmone | noˈmone | |
| dog |
| βoni | ˈɣuni | |
| pig |
| ˈaba | ˈaba | |
| bird |
| neni; teˈboɾe | ˈnini | |
| egg |
| ˈmaβa | ˈmaɣa | |
| man |
| ˈβaʒe | ˈβaʒe | |
| woman |
| noˈʔone | noˈɣone | |
| sun/day |
| maˈda | maˈda | |
| moon |
| ˈbato | ˈbato | |
| water |
| ˈβou | ˈβou | |
| fire/firewood |
| ˈiɾe | iɾe | |
| stone |
| ˈhadi | ˈhadi | |
| path |
| ˈebi | ˈibi | |
| name |
| ni | ni | |
| eat |
| an- | an- | |
| one |
| ˈtebo | ˈtiba | |
| two |
| aˈheu | aˈheu |
The following basic vocabulary words are from Dutton (1970)[5] (with additional data for Uare from 1988 SIL field notes), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[6] Proto-Kwalean reconstructions are from Ross (2014).
Note that the words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. nuune, nune for “breast”) or not (e.g. hadi, aroba for “stone”).
| gloss | Proto-Kwalean | Uare | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| head | raˈfune | vaˈdini; və'd·inɩ | yoarowai | ||
| hair |
| iʔvuai | 'iku; ˈiku | yoroba | |
| ear | aˈbi | 'tʰɛɣʌ; ˈteɣa | akuru | ||
| eye |
| uˈbuma | uˈbuma; u'bumə | boivi | |
| nose |
| ʒaˈʒore | ĵ ̟ʌ'ĵ ̟ɔre; ʒaˈʒore | ine | |
| tooth |
| voˈnone | ɣoˈnone; ɣɔ'nɔne | waina (2?) | |
| tongue | maˈnane | maˈʒane; mə'j ̟ane | bebura | ||
| leg | goˈenva | ɔdʌ; ˈoda | koina | ||
| louse |
| noˈmone | noˈmone; 'nɔmone | uˈmana | |
| dog |
| ˈaba | ˈaba; 'ɣunɩ | aba | |
| pig |
| (voni) aˈva | 'ap·ʌ; (ɣuni) aˈvaɣa | batuvi | |
| bird |
| (teˈbore) ˈiʔuva | 'ninɩ; (nini) ˈikuɣa | iguvi | |
| egg |
| ˈhava | iˈsaɣa; 'maɣʌ | iakeki | |
| blood |
| roˈo | iuː; ˈruˈu | iˈaa | |
| bone |
| eˈhine | ɩ'ine; iˈsine | inina | |
| skin |
| aˈhere kokava | a'hiṟʟ; aˈhiri | iaina | |
| breast |
| nuˈune | 'nune; nuˈne | kobaiba | |
| tree | iˈbado | ire; 'ire | |||
| man |
| oˈhoʒ; ˈvaʒe | ohɔj ̟e; oˈhoʒe; ˈvaʒe | ||
| woman |
| noʔˈone | 'lɔɣae; noˈɣone; roˈɣai | tina | |
| sky |
| aˈdure | aˈdure | ||
| sun |
| maˈda | 'madʌ; maˈda | bauwa | |
| moon |
| ˈbato | ˈbato; 'batʰɔ | vaisa | |
| water |
| ˈvou | ˈvou; vu | vara | |
| fire |
| ˈire | ireˈroga; ɩṟɛlokə | boareki | |
| stone |
| ˈhadi | 'had·ɩ; ˈhadi | aroba | |
| road, path | 'ibɩ | ||||
| name |
| ni | ni; niː | waa anu | |
| eat |
| a-nE- | a-nE-; aᵘ ʔohe | inatu | |
| one |
| ˈtebo | ˈtiba; 'tʰipʌ | pebogi | |
| two |
| a'heᵘ |
Kwale reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[7]
Languages of the World
. 22nd . Eberhard . David M. . Simons . Gary F. . Fennig . Charles D. . 2019 . Dallas . SIL International.