| Melpa | |
| States: | Papua New Guinea |
| Region: | Mount Hagen District, Western Highlands Province |
| Speakers: | 130,000 |
| Date: | 1991 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Trans–New Guinea |
| Fam2: | Chimbu–Wahgi |
| Fam3: | Hagen |
| Script: | Latin |
| Iso3: | med |
| Glotto: | melp1238 |
| Glottorefname: | Melpa |
Melpa (Medlpa, Mbowamb) is a Papuan language spoken by about 130,000 people predominantly in Mount Hagen and the surrounding district of Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.
Melpa is a Pandanus language used during karuka harvest.[1] Melpa has a voiceless velar lateral fricative, written as a double-barred el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). Melpa is notable for its binary counting system. A dictionary of Melpa has been compiled by Stewart, Strathern and Trantow (2011).[2]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Stop | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Semivowel | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Near-high | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Low | pronounced as /link/ |
| Decimal | Melpa | Interpretation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tenda | "one" | |
| 2 | ragl | "two" | |
| 3 | ragltika | "two-one" | |
| 4 | tembokak | "four" | |
| 5 | pemp ti gul | "one past four" | |
| 6 | pemp ragl gul | "two past four" | |
| 7 | pemp ragltika gul | "two-one past four" | |
| 8 | engakl | "eight" | |
| 9 | pemp ti pip | "one past eight" | |
| 10 | pemp ragl pip | "two past eight" |
Temboka, a dialect of Melpa, is the native language of the Ganiga tribe,[3] who featured prominently in the Highlands Trilogy of documentaries by Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly (First Contact, Joe Leahy's Neighbours, and Black Harvest).
The documentary Ongka's Big Moka also has Melpa dialogue.