Abun language explained

Abun
States:Southwest Papua
Region:Tambrauw Regency, Bird's Head Peninsula: Ayamaru, Moraid, and Sausapor sub-districts - about 20 villages
Pushpin Map:Indonesia_Western New Guinea#Indonesia
Coordinates:-0.57°N 132.42°W
Speakers:3,000
Date:1995
Ref:e25
Familycolor:Papuan
Fam1:West Papuan or language isolate
Fam2:West–Central Bird's Head
Dia1:Abun Tat (Karon Pantai)
Dia2:Abun Ji (Madik)
Dia3:Abun Je
Iso3:kgr
Glotto:abun1252
Glottorefname:Abun

Abun, also known as Yimbun, Anden, Manif, or Karon Pantai, is a Papuan language spoken by the Abun people along the northern coast of the Bird's Head Peninsula in Sausapor District, Tambrauw Regency. It is not closely related to any other language, and though Ross (2005) assigned it to the West Papuan family, based on similarities in pronouns, Palmer (2018), Ethnologue, and Glottolog list it as a language isolate.[1] [2]

Abun used to have three lexical tones, but only two are distinguished now as minimal pairs and even these are found in limited vocabulary. Therefore, Abun is said to be losing its tonality due to linguistic change.[3]

Being spoken along the coast of northwestern New Guinea, Abun is in contact with Austronesian languages; maritime vocabulary in Abun has been borrowed from Biak.[4]

Setting and dialects

The speakers number about 3,000 spread across 18 villages and several isolated hamlets. The Abun area occupies a stretch of the northern coast of the Bird's Head Peninsula. The neighbouring languages are Moi to the southwest along the coast, Moraid and Karon Dori to the south (the latter is a dialect of Maybrat), and Mpur to the east.

The Abun speakers refer to their language as either Abun or Anden. Several other names are in use by neighbouring groups: the Moi call it Madik, the Mpur refer to it as Yimbun or Yembun, while among the it is known as Karon Pantai, a term with derogatory connotations.

Abun has four distinct dialects: Abun Tat, Abun Ye, and the two dialects of Abun Ji. The two Abun Ji dialects are differentiated by their use of /r/ or /l/. Abun exists on a dialect continuum from Abun Tat to Abun Ji /l/: speakers of Abun Tat are less able to understand Abun Ji than Abun Ye.

Phonology

Abun has 5 vowels: /i, e, ɑ, o, u/.

!Labial!Alveolar!Postalveolar\
Palatal!Velar
Plosive/
Affricate
voicelesspronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
voicedpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
prenasal.pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Fricativepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Nasalpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Approximantpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Trillpronounced as /ink/

Tones

Abun has three lexical tones, which are high, mid, and low. A minimal set showing all three tones:[4]

High/rising tones can also be used to mark plurals (Berry & Berry 1999:21).

Grammar

Abun has bipartite negation like French, using the pre-predicate negator yo and post-predicate negator nde. Both are obligatory.[4] Example:

Like the other language isolates of the northern Bird's Head Peninsula, Abun is a heavily isolating language, with many one-to-one word-morpheme correspondences, as shown in the example sentence below.[4]

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Miedema & Welling (1985)[5] and Voorhoeve (1975),[6] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[7]

gloss Abun
(Jembun dialect)
headməsu tana mesu
hairgo mauwyan usugo
eyeŋgro tasu da
toothsios jasièm mesos
legkwes taow mengwès
lousemim xatè
dogndar (n)dax dar
pigyot fani nox; yot
birdnamgau eruː daːm
eggbem yayuf beːm
bloodnde mès
bonedini tey diniéː
skinda tarak menda
treekew ara key
manbris raysmiː yeːtu
sunkam ayom kaːm
watersur aya sur
firebot tafox boːt
stonejok fra yok
namegum tasom tagum
eatgit téyt mengi
onedik sow dik
twowe ai

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hammarström. Harald. Forke. Robert. Haspelmath. Martin. Bank. Sebastian. 2020. Abun . Glottolog 4.3.
  2. Book: Palmer, Bill . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . Language families of the New Guinea Area . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 1–20 . 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. Book: Muysken, Pieter . From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics . 2008 . John Benjamins Publishing Company . 134 . 9789027231000.
  4. Book: Holton . Gary . Klamer . Marian . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird’s Head . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 569–640 . 978-3-11-028642-7.
  5. Miedema, J. and Welling, F.I. "Fieldnotes on languages and dialects in the Kebar district, Bird's Head, Irian Jaya". In Adams, K., Lauck, L., Miedema, J., Welling, F., Stokhof, W., Flassy, D., Oguri, H., Collier, K., Gregerson, K., Phinnemore, T., Scorza, D., Davies, J., Comrie, B. and Abbott, S. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 22. A-63:29-52. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985.
  6. Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975.
  7. Web site: TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea . Greenhill . Simon . 2016. 2020-11-05.