| Eastern Trans-Fly | |
| Also Known As: | Oriomo Plateau |
| Region: | Oriomo Plateau, Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait Islands (Australia) |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Trans-Fly or independent language family |
| Glotto: | east2503 |
| Glottorefname: | Eastern Trans-Fly |
| Map: | Eastern Trans-Fly languages.svg |
| Mapcaption: | Map: The Eastern Trans-Fly languages of New Guinea |
The Eastern Trans-Fly (or Oriomo Plateau) languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages spoken in the Oriomo Plateau to the west of the Fly River in New Guinea.
The languages constituted a branch of Stephen Wurm's 1970 Trans-Fly proposal, which he later incorporated into his 1975 expansion of the Trans–New Guinea family as part of a Trans-Fly – Bulaka River branch. They are retained as a family but removed from Trans–New Guinea in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher.
Wurm had determined that some of the languages he classified as Trans-Fly were not actually part of the Trans-New Guinea family but were instead heavily influenced by Trans-New Guinea languages. In 2005, Ross removed most of these languages, including Eastern Trans-Fly, from Wurm's Trans-New Guinea classification.
Timothy Usher links the four languages, which he calls Oriomo Plateau, to the Pahoturi languages and the Tabo language in an expanded Eastern Trans-Fly family.
Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans (2018) are provided below.[1] Geographical coordinates are also provided for each dialect (which are named after villages).[2]
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto–Eastern Trans-Fly are,
| I |
| exclusive we |
| |
| inclusive we |
| |||
| thou |
| you |
| |
| he/she/it |
| they |
|
There is a possibility of a connection here to Trans–New Guinea. If the inclusive pronoun is historically a second-person form, then there would appear to be i-ablaut for the plural: *ka~ki, **ma~mi, **tapa~tapi. This is similar to the ablaut reconstructed for TNG (*na~ni, *ga~gi). Although the pronouns themselves are dissimilar, ablaut is not likely to be borrowed. On the other hand, there is some formal resemblance to Austronesian pronouns (*(a)ku I, *(ka)mu you, *kita we inc., *(ka)mi we exc., *ia he/she/it; some archeological, cultural and linguistic evidence of Austronesian contact and settlement in the area exists (David et al., 2011; McNiven et al., 2011; McNiven et al., 2006; McNiven et al., 2004: 67-68; Mitchell 1995).
The following basic vocabulary words for Bine (Täti dialect), Bine (Sogal dialect), Gizra (Kupere dialect) and Wipi (Dorogori dialect) are from the Trans-New Guinea database.[3] The equivalent words for Meriam Mir are also included.[4]
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. iřeʔu, iřeku, ilkʰəp for “eye”) or not (e.g. dřeŋgo, ume, yɔŋg for “dog”).
| gloss | Meriam Mir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| head | mopo | mopo | siŋɨl | mopʰ | kìrìm | |
| hair | ede ŋæři | mopo ŋæři | eřŋen | mop ŋɨs | mus | |
| ear | tablam | tablamo | gublam | yəkəpya | girip, laip | |
| eye | iřeʔu | iřeku | ilkʰəp | yəř | erkep | |
| nose | keke | keke | siəkʰ | sok | pit | |
| tooth | giřiʔu | ziřgup | tìrìg | |||
| tongue | wætæ | wærtæ | uːlitʰ | vlat | werut | |
| leg | er̃ŋe | er̃ŋe | wapʰər̃ | kwa | teter | |
| louse | ŋamwe | ŋamo | ŋəm | bɨnɨm | nem | |
| dog | dřego | dřeŋgo | ume | yɔŋg | omai | |
| pig | blomwe | blomo | b'om | borom | ||
| bird | eře | eře | pʰöyɑy | yi | ebur | |
| egg | ku | ku | uŕgup | kʰɨp | wer | |
| blood | uːdi | uːdi | əi | wɔːdž | mam | |
| bone | kaːke | kaːko | kʰus | kʰakʰ | lid | |
| skin | tæːpwe | tæːpo | sopʰai | gɨm | gegur | |
| breast | nono | ŋamo | ŋiam | ŋɔm | nano | |
| tree | uli | uli | nugup | wʉl | lu(g) | |
| man | řoːřie | řoːřie | pʰam | r̃ɨga | kimiar | |
| woman | magebe | magobe | kʰoːl | kʰɔŋga | koskìr | |
| sun | abwedži | bimu | abɨs | lom | lìm | |
| moon | mřeːpwe | mabye | mɛlpal | mobi | meb | |
| water | niːye | niːye | nai | ni | nì | |
| fire | ulobo | ulikobo | uːř | par̃a | ur | |
| stone | kula | kula | iŋlkʰup | gli | bakìr | |
| name | ŋi | ŋi | ŋi | niː | nei | |
| eat | waː aloda | nina wavwin | ero | |||
| one | neːteřa | yepæ | dər̃pʰan | yəpa | netat | |
| two | neneni | neneni | niːs | nɨmɔg | neis |