Marienberg languages explained

Marienberg
Also Known As:Marienberg Hills
Region:Marienberg Hills, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Familycolor:Papuan
Fam1:Torricelli
Fam2:Sepik Coast
Fam3:Tayap–Marienberg
Glotto:mari1433
Glottorefname:Marienberg
Map:Torricelli_languages_map.svg
Mapcaption:The Torricelli languages as classified by Foley (2018)

The Marienberg or Marienberg Hills languages are a branch of the Torricelli language family. They are spoken in a mountainous stretch of region located between the towns of Wewak and Angoram in the Marienberg Hills of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.

Kamasau is the best documented Marienberg language.

Typology

Marienberg languages distinguish masculine and feminine genders, with feminine being the default unmarked gender.

Unlike all other Torricelli branches except for the Monumbo languages, word order in the Bogia languages is SOV, likely due to contact with Lower Sepik-Ramu and Sepik languages.

Languages

Foley (2018) provides the following classification, based primarily on morphological evidence.[1]

There is also Forok, labeled as a variety of Bungain in survey vocabularies.

Pronouns

Pronouns in selected Marienberg Hill languages:[1]

pronoun Buna
ŋa ŋan ŋa
nu nu no
.na neŋ den
.wo veŋ gwen
ŋam ŋaŋ ŋam
num nuŋ nom
.ma meŋ bon
.kwo ceŋ en

References

Notes and References

  1. Book: Foley, William A. . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 197-432 . 978-3-11-028642-7.