Monumbo languages explained

Monumbo
Also Known As:Bogia Bay
Region:Bogia Bay, Bogia District, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea
Familycolor:Papuan
Fam1:Torricelli
Fam2:Sepik Coast
Child1:Monumbo
Child2:Ngaimbom - Lilau
Glotto:monu1249
Glottorefname:Bogia
Map:Torricelli_languages_map.svg
Mapcaption:The Torricelli languages as classified by Foley (2018)

The Monumbo or Bogia Bay languages are a cluster of closely related languages that constitute a branch of the Torricelli language family. They are spoken in a few coastal villages around Bogia Bay of Bogia District, Madang Province in Papua New Guinea. Unlike all other Torricelli branches except for the Marienberg languages, word order in the Bogia languages is SOV, likely due to contact with Lower Sepik-Ramu and Sepik languages.

There are three languages: Monumbo (Mambuwan), Ngaimbom and Lilau.

Classification

They have for several decades been lumped into the Torricelli family 100 km to the west. Foley (2018) and Usher both classify them as Torricelli, based on unpublished comparisons.[1] "No evidence [for this] was ever presented" publicly, according to Glottolog.[2]

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.
  2. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/monu1249 Glottolog: Monumbo