| Kaure–Kosare | |
| Also Known As: | Nawa River |
| Region: | Nawa River, New Guinea |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Family: | a primary language family |
| Child1: | Kaure |
| Child2: | Kosare |
| Map: | Kaure-Kapori languages.svg |
| Mapcaption: | Map: The Kaure–Kapori languages of New Guinea |
| Glotto: | kaur1274 |
The Kaure–Kosare or Nawa River languages are a small family spoken along the Nawa River in West Papua, near the northern border with Papua New Guinea. The languages are Kaure and Kosare.
Kaure and Kosare (Kosadle) are clearly related. There is a history of classifying them with the Kapori–Sause languages. However, Kapori and Sause show no particular connection to the Kaure languages, and may be closer to Kwerba.[1]
Foley (2018) considers a connection with Trans-New Guinea to be promising, but tentatively leaves Kaure-Kosare out as an independent language family pending further evidence.[2]
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[1]
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| [*j] |
Coda consonants are stop *C (or more precisely *P) and nasal *N.
Diphthongs are *ɛi, *ɛu, *ai *au.
Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as:[1]
| sg | pl | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
| |
| 2 |
| ? | |
| 3 | ? | ? |
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[1]
| gloss | Proto-Nawa River | |
|---|---|---|
| hair |
| |
| ear |
| |
| eye |
| |
| tusk/tooth |
| |
| skin/bark |
| |
| breast |
| |
| louse |
| |
| dog |
| |
| pig |
| |
| bird |
| |
| tree |
| |
| woman |
| |
| sun |
| |
| moon |
| |
| water |
| |
| fire |
| |
| eat |
|
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975)[3] [4] and other sources, as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[5]
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. poka, paka for “moon”) or not (e.g. goklu, huaglüt, kɔro for “ear”).
| gloss | Kaure[6] | Kosare[7] | Narau | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| head | kasera; pleŋ; pɔklai | potɔ´ | ||
| hair | hai; hat | potɔi | fukura hai | |
| ear | goklu; huaglüt | 'kɔro | ||
| eye | gewe; hwai; hwew | ĩsɛrit | ||
| nose | gopo; hapu | moro 'kakò | ||
| tooth | sbeje; səbokai | pɛki | sebekai | |
| tongue | sremu; sɾumu | pɛrɛ´ | ||
| leg | due; duɛ | nue | ||
| louse | mi; mĩ | mi | ||
| dog | se | sé | ||
| pig | pi | pi | kandu | |
| bird | hou; hu; ku | o | ||
| egg | hore; te; wale | ho's̪ɛri | ||
| blood | hi; katesa; katsa | ña | ||
| bone | era; laq; loa | 'kákò | ||
| skin | aguli; arohei; axlit | |||
| breast | mu; muq | kó kakò | ||
| tree | te; tei; teija | tĩⁿdi | bimesini | |
| man | debla; dido | nepra | ||
| woman | dae | ḑɩmɔ'kasia | ||
| sky | lɛbü | nubɷ | ||
| sun | hafei; haɾi; harei | ɛnɛ´ⸯ | kaberja | |
| moon | gaka; poka | paka | ||
| water | bi; biq; gomesi | biɛ | bi | |
| fire | sa; saʔ; sareŋ | sá | sare | |
| stone | təsi; tɛsi; tisi | 'naka | ||
| road, path | selu | kɛmɔrɔ´ | ||
| name | bəre; blɛ; nokomne | morɔ | ||
| eat | ganasi; kadi; kandɛ | kɛnɛ´ | kanaisini | |
| one | gogotia; kauxjaʔ; kaxotia | kora'ɸɛ | ||
| two | tɾapli; təravərei; trapi | tau |