West Bird's Head languages explained

West Bird's Head
Region:West Papua
Familycolor:Papuan
Fam1:West Papuan
Fam2:West–Central Bird's Head
Glotto:west1493
Glottorefname:West Bird's Head

West Bird's Head languages are a small family of poorly documented Papuan languages spoken on the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea.

The West Bird's Head (WBH) family is a well-defined family of six languages spoken at the western end of the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea and the eastern part of the island of Salawati opposite the Bird's Head's western shore. Based on pronominal evidence, they appear to be related to the North Halmahera languages of North Maluku.[1]

Language contact

West Bird's Head languages have been heavily influenced by Austronesian languages. Austronesian influence is evident in SVO word order (as opposed to SOV word order in most other Papuan language families), pronouns, numerals, and other typological features.[2]

Languages

Kuwani is attested only from a single word list, but is clearly distinct.[3]

These languages cannot be easily linked to other families of the Bird‘s Head Peninsula.[2] They have been plausibly connected to the geographically close North Halmahera (NH) family, a relationship considered clear by Reesink 1998;[4] however, the evidence does not appear to be conclusive.[5] In particular, the available lexical evidence is flimsy, as noted by Holton and Klamer (2018).[2] On the other hand, the geographical proximity of the two families lends credibility to this proposal. The connection between WBH and NH was first proposed by H.K.J. Cowan (1957), and further discussed by C.L. Voorhoeve (1987, 1994).[2]

A link between WBH and the isolates Abun and Maybrat has also been proposed (Wichmann 2013, Flassy 2002).[6] [2]

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[7] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[8]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. kalen, kelem, kele for “bird”) or not (e.g. tolok, begu, niwi for “egg”).

gloss Tehit
headsafas sawa sawag sadus sam
hairsadin sagin sadie salas gen
eyesifoko suo sgolfun si tsifon
toothtela efek etəla gifek -hek
legterit telek ere cek ndeit
louseon sayam wut hain
doghoun ofun ŋouŋ awfu
pigbeak baik mimula mon
birdkalen kelem kele klem klen
eggweko tolok begu niwi mesyen
bloodhein sdam hijeg sədam hon
bonekodus kodus kedoq nədus honim
skinfalak -kesik balg nensiek falek
treekout ouk pelu bua molom
mannadele (ne) dala dli nanla naadla
sunpun dewe telu tale pun
waterkala kala kəla kla sem
firesal yak salp yap
stoneamak kwak amp kuat amak
namenakadi kedi numhamone nomo kendim
eatatkaren wak nagrimi nate atni
onemere mele merəh məre mre
twolap ali telok ali la; lauh

Notes and References

  1. Book: Miedema, Jelle . Ger P. . Reesink . One Head, Many Faces: New Perspectives on the Bird’s Head Peninsula of New Guinea . Leiden . KITLV Press . 2004 . 2022-07-28 . 978-90-04-45438-5 . 10.1163/9789004454385 . 31 . 1312159896 . en.
  2. Book: Holton . Gary . Klamer . Marian . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird’s Head . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 569–640 . 10.1515/9783110295252-005 . 1041880153 . 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. Voorhoeve, C.L. 1975. West Papuan Phylum languages on the mainland of New Guinea: Bird's Head (Vogelkop) Peninsula. Papuan Languages and the New Guinea Linguistic Scene, ed. by S.A. Wurm, 717-28. (Pacific Linguistics C-38). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  4. Book: Reesink, Ger P. . Jelle . Miedema . Cecilia . Odé . Rien A.C. . Dam . The Bird‘s Head as Sprachbund . Perspectives on the Bird‘s Head of Irian Jaya, Indonesia; Proceedings of the Conference, Leiden, 13–17 October 1997 . 1998 . Amsterdam/Atlanta . 978-9-042-00644-7 . 10.1163/9789004652644_032 . 41025250 . Rodopi . 603–642 . en.
  5. Book: van Staden, Miriam . Gunter . Senft . 2008 . Serial verb constructions in Austronesian and Papuan languages . Pacific Linguistics 594 . Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University . Canberra . Serial verb constructions in a linguistic area . Ger . Reesink . 17–54 . en.
  6. Wichmann, Søren. 2013. A classification of Papuan languages. In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313-386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.
  7. Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975.
  8. Web site: TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea . Greenhill . Simon . 2016 . 2020-11-05.