Madang languages explained

Madang
Also Known As:	Madang–Adelbert Range
Region:	Papua New Guinea
Familycolor:	Papuan
Fam1:	Northeast New Guinea and/or Trans–New Guinea
Fam2:	Madang – Upper Yuat
Child1:	Southern Adelbert Range
Child2:	Rai Coast
Child3:	Croisilles
Child4:	Kalam
Child5:	Mabuso
Child6:	etc.
Glotto:	mada1298
Glottorefname:	Madang
Map:	Madang languages.svg
Mapcaption:	Map: The Madang languages of New Guinea

The Madang or Madang–Adelbert Range languages are a language family of Papua New Guinea. They were classified as a branch of Trans–New Guinea by Stephen Wurm, followed by Malcolm Ross. William A. Foley concurs that it is "highly likely" that the Madang languages are part of TNG, although the pronouns, the usual basis for classification in TNG, have been "replaced" in Madang. Timothy Usher finds that Madang is closest to the Upper Yuat River languages and other families to its west, but does not for now address whether this larger group forms part of the TNG family.^[1]

The family is named after Madang Province and the Adelbert Range.

History

Sidney Herbert Ray identified the Rai Coast family in 1919. In 1951 these were linked with the Mabuso languages by Arthur Capell to create his Madang family. John Z'graggen (1971, 1975) expanded Madang to languages of the Adelbert Range and renamed the family Madang–Adelbert Range, and Stephen Wurm (1975)^[2] adopted this as a branch of his Trans–New Guinea phylum. For the most part, Malcolm Ross's (2005) Madang family includes the same languages as Z'graggen Madang–Adelbert Range, but the internal classification is different in several respects, such as the dissolution of the Brahman branch.

Internal classification

The languages are as follows:^{[1] [3]}

• Madang
  • Bargam (Mugil)
  • Central Madang
    • Croisilles (reduced, = Northern Adelbert Range)
    • Mabuso
    • Mindjim
    • Rai Coast (reduced; > South Madang)
    • Yamben
  • West Madang
    • Southern Adelbert Range (Sogeram and Tomul Rivers)
    • Kalam (Kaironk River)
  • East Madang
    • Wasembo
    • Yaganon

The time depth of Madang is comparable to that of Austronesian or Indo-European.

Pronouns

Ross (2000) reconstructed the pronouns as follows:

	sg	pl
1	ya	i^[4]
2	na	ni, *ta
3	nu

These are not the common TNG pronouns. However, Ross postulates that the TNG dual suffixes *-le and *-t remain, and suggests that the TNG pronouns live on as Kalam verbal suffixes.

Evolution

Madang family reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma:^[5]

Family-wide innovations

• pTNG *mbena ‘arm’ > proto-Madang *kambena (accretion of *ka-)
• pTNG *mb(i,u)t(i,u)C ‘fingernail’ > proto-Madang *timbi(n,t) (metathesis)
• pTNG *(n)ok ‘water’ replaced by proto-Madang *yaŋgu

Croisilles

Garuh language

• muki ‘brain’ < *muku
• bi ‘guts’ < *simbi
• hap ‘cloud’ < *samb(V)
• balamu ‘firelight’ < *mbalaŋ
• wani ‘name’ < *[w]ani ‘who?’
• wus ‘wind, breeze’ < *kumbutu
• kalam ‘moon’ < *kala(a,i)m
• neg- ‘to watch’ < *nVŋg- ‘see, know’
• ma ‘taro’ < *mV
• ahi ‘sand’ < *sa(ŋg,k)asiŋ

Pay language

• in- ‘sleep’ < *kin(i,u)-
• kawus ‘smoke’ < *kambu
• tawu-na ‘ashes’ < *sambu
• imun ‘hair’ < *sumu(n,t)
• ano ‘who’ < *[w]ani

Proto-Northern Adelbert

^[6]

• *waben ‘arm, hand’ < *mbena
• *bab ‘older brother’ < *[mb]amba
• *ked ‘blood’ < *ke(nj,s)a
• *gemaŋ ‘heart’ < *kamu
• *kumaŋ ‘neck, nape’ < *kuma(n, ŋ)
• *kasin ‘mosquito’ < *kasin
• *um- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• *in- ‘sleep’ < *kin(i,u)[m]-
• *ag- 'see' ‘know, hear, see’ < *nVŋg-
• *me (+verb) ‘NEG’ < *ma- (+verb)
• *yag ‘water’ < *ok[V]
• *tak ‘leaf’ < *sasak

Kalam

Kalam language (most closely related to the Rai Coast languages):

• meg ‘teeth’ < *maŋgat[a]
• md-magi ‘heart’ < *mundu-maŋgV
• mkem ‘cheek’ < *mVkVm ‘cheek, chin’
• sb ‘excrement, guts’ < *simbi
• muk ‘milk, sap, brain’ < *muku
• yman ‘louse’ < *iman
• yb ‘name’ < *imbi
• kdl ‘root’ < *kindil
• malaŋ ‘flame’ < *mbalaŋ
• melk ‘(fire or day)light’ < *(m,mb)elak
• kn- ‘to sleep, lie down’ < *kini(i,u)[m]-
• kum- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• md- < *mVna- ‘be, stay’
• nŋ-, ng- ‘perceive, know, see, hear, etc’ < *nVŋg-
• kawnan ‘shadow, spirit’ < *k(a,o)
• nan, takn ‘moon’ < *takVn[V]
• magi ‘round thing, egg, fruit, etc.’ < *maŋgV
• ami ‘mother’ < *am(a,i,u)
• b ‘man’ < *ambi
• bapi, -ap ‘father’ < *mbapa, *ap
• saŋ ‘women’s dancing song’ < *saŋ
• ma- ‘negator’ < *ma-
• an ‘who’ < *[w]ani

Rai Coast

Dumpu language

• man- ‘be, stay’ < *mVna-
• mekh ‘teeth’ < *maŋgat[a]
• im ‘louse’ < *iman
• munu ‘heart’ < *mundun ‘inner organs’
• kum- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• kono ‘shadow’ < *k(a,o)nan
• kini- ‘sleep’ < *kin(i,u)[m]-
• ra- ‘take’ < *(nd,t)a-
• urau ‘long’ < *k(o,u)ti(mb,p)V
• gra ‘dry’ < *(ŋg,k)atata

Southern Adelbert

Sirva language

• mun(zera) ‘be, stay’ < *mVna-
• kaja ‘blood’ < *kenja
• miku ‘brain’ < *muku
• simbil ‘guts’ < *simbi
• tipi ‘fingernail’ < *mb(i,)ut(i,u)C (metathesis)
• iːma ‘louse’ < *iman
• ibu ‘name’ < *imbi
• kanumbu ‘wind’ < *kumbutu
• mundu(ma) ‘nose’ < *mundu
• kaːsi ‘sand’ < *sa(ŋg,k)asiŋ
• apapara ‘butterfly’ < *apa(pa)ta
• kumu- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• ŋg- ‘see’ < *nVŋg-

Proto-language

The following selected reconstructions of Proto-Madang by Ross (2014)^[7] are from the Trans-New Guinea database.^[8] Proto-Trans–New Guinea reconstructions are from Andrew Pawley and Harald Hammarström (2018).^[5]

gloss	Proto-Madang	Proto-Trans–New Guinea
head	gat(a,i)(m)	kV(mb,p)utu; mVtVna
hair	imunu	(nd,s)umu(n,t)[V]; *iti
ear	kaun(i)	kand(i,e)k[V]
eye	amu	ŋg(a,u)mu; *(ŋg,k)iti-maŋgV; *nVpV
nose	mutu(gu)	mundu
tooth	make	titi
tongue	mele	me(l,n)e; *mbilaŋ
leg	kani(n)	k(a,o)nd(a,o)[C]; *kitu
louse	[n]iman	(n)iman
bird	kVbara	yaka[i]; *n[e]i
egg	munaka	mun(a,e,i)ka; *maŋgV
blood	ka(d,r)a; *kara	ke(nj,s)a
bone	kwaten	kondaC
skin	ga(n,r)a	(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu
breast	amu(na)	amu
tree	tari	inda
woman	na-gali(k)	panV
sky	ku(m,b)ut	kumut, *tumuk; *samb[V]
sun	kamali	kamali; *ketane
moon	kalam; *takun	kal(a,i)m; *takVn[V]
water	yag(V)	(n)ok[V]
fire	k(a,e)dap	k(a,o)nd(a,u)p; *inda; *kambu
stone	namanu	[na]muna; *kamb(a,u)na
name	ibi; *wañim	imbi; *wani
eat	(n,ñ)a	na-
one	kati(ŋ,g)a
two	arigita	ta(l,t)(a,e)

References

• • Pawley, Ross, & Osmond, 2005. Papuan languages and the Trans New Guinea phylum. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 38–51.

CLDF Dataset

• Z'graggen, J A. (1980) A comparative word list of the Northern Adelbert Range Languages, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. (CLDF dataset on Zenodo)

External links

• ELAR archive of Documenting the Sogeram Language Family of Papua New Guinea

Notes and References

1. https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/madang-upper-yuat-river/madang Madang
2. https://archive.today/20130122132212/http://www.ethnologue.com/15/show_family.asp?subid=91520 Ethnologue (15th edition)
3. Pick . Andrew . 2019 . Yamben: A previously undocumented language of Madang . 5th Workshop on the Languages of Papua . Universitas Negeri Papua, Manokwari, West Papua, Indonesia.
4. actually i ~ si
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. PhD dissertation . Pick . Andrew . 2020 . A reconstruction of Proto-Northern Adelbert phonology and lexicon . University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa .
7. [Malcolm Ross (linguist)|Ross, Malcolm]
8. Web site: TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea . Greenhill . Simon . 2016 . 2020-11-05.