| Ata | |
| Also Known As: | Pele-Ata |
| States: | Papua New Guinea |
| Region: | New Britain |
| Speakers: | 2,000 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | West New Britain |
| Iso3: | ata |
| Glotto: | pele1245 |
| Glottorefname: | Pele-Ata |
The Ata language, also known as Pele-Ata after its two dialects, or Wasi, is a Papuan language spoken on New Britain island, Papua New Guinea. It appears to be related to neighboring Anêm, and possibly also to Yélî Dnye in a proposed Yele-West New Britain family. There are about 2000 speakers.
Ata is spoken in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province, and in Talasea District, West New Britain Province.[1]
According to Yanagida (2004), there are two dialects of Ata, a Lower dialect spoken in the lowlands and an Upper dialect spoken in the mountains.[2] The Lower dialect is spoken in Bialla Rural LLG, West New Britain Province, while the Upper dialect is spoken mostly in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province:[3]
Lower dialect (in Bialla Rural LLG, West New Britain Province):
Upper dialect (in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province, unless noted otherwise):
Both the lower and upper dialects are spoken in the settlement of Silanga.
There are some lexical differences between the dialects. Some examples are listed below.[2]
| gloss | Upper Ata | Lower Ata | |
|---|---|---|---|
| rain | uali | laʔiua | |
| totoʔo | kelatu | ||
| mio | mio, mioxa | ||
| throw something | paxele | pei | |
| yes | iou | ani | |
| the day before yesterday | malakaumei | malaʔo | |
| 2nd person dual independent pronoun | ngolou | ngongou | |
| 3rd person dual independent pronoun | olou | ilou |
Phonology of the Ata language:[4]
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ |
A word-initial /i/ is realized as a [j], and a word-initial /u/ becomes a [w] when preceding /o/ or /ɑ/.
| High | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Low | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ |
Ata makes use of noun classes, some of which are:[5]
Below are some Ata noun class paradigms, using the noun roots lavo’o ‘stone’ and lexe ‘song’ as examples:[5]
| root | lavo’o | /stone/ | ‘stone’ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | lavo'o-silo | /stone-my/ | ‘my stone to be used for a house’ | |
| Class 2 | lavo'o-xeni | /stone-my/ | ‘my stone to be used for breaking nuts’ | |
| Class 3 | lavo'o-xo | /stone-my/ | ‘my stone for a stone oven’ |
| root | lexe | /song/ | ‘song’ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | lexe-silo | /song-my/ | ‘a song to be sung for me’ | |
| Class 2 | lexe-xeni | /song-my/ | ‘the song I sing’ | |
| Class 3 | lexe-xo | /song-my/ | ‘the song about me’ |
Selected basic vocabulary items in Ata:
| gloss | Ata | |
|---|---|---|
| bird | ngiala | |
| blood | sialuxu | |
| bone | xine | |
| breast | susu | |
| ear | sangalie | |
| eat | ’ie | |
| egg | atolu | |
| eye | iei | |
| fire | navu | |
| give | iti; losie | |
| go | lai | |
| ground | lia | |
| leg | tava'a | |
| louse | meni | |
| man | aliko | |
| moon | so'io | |
| name | uala | |
| one | vile | |
| road, path | vote'i | |
| see | maisou | |
| sky | loxotolo | |
| stone | lavo'o | |
| sun | aso | |
| tongue | levexe | |
| teeth | anaxu ilaanu (anaxu = 'mouth') | |
| tree | aiinu; ovu | |
| two | tamei | |
| water | lexa | |
| woman | sema |
Languages of the World
. 22nd . Eberhard . David M. . Simons . Gary F. . Fennig . Charles D. . 2019 . Dallas . SIL International.