Burmeso language
Burmeso | |
---|---|
Taurap | |
Region | Papua: Mamberamo Raya Regency, Mamberamo Tengah subdistrict, Burmeso village on the banks of the Middle Mamberamo River |
Native speakers | (250 cited 1998)[1] |
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | bzu |
Glottolog | burm1264 |
ELP | Burmeso |
The Burmeso language – also known as Taurap – is spoken by some 300 people in Burmeso village along the mid
Burmeso forms a branch of
Phonology
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n |
||||
Plosive | voiceless | t |
k | |||
voiced | b | d |
ʤ | ɡ | ||
Fricative | plain | ɸ | s | h | ||
labial | hʷ | |||||
Liquid | r |
|||||
Semivowel | w | j |
Probable sound changes proposed by Foley (2018):
- *p > /ɸ/
- *tʃ > /s/
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
Close | i | u |
Mid | e | o |
Open | a |
Pronouns
Burmeso independent pronouns are:[2]
sg du pl 1 da day boro 2 ba bito
Nouns
Burmeso has six noun classes, which are:[2]
class semantic category 1 male humans and associated things (contains half of all nouns) 2 female humans and associated things 3 body parts, insects, and lizards; material culture like axes and canoes, some foods; many natural phenomena 4 mass nouns 5 the two staple foods: sago tree and banana 6 arrows, coconuts, and rice (traded items)
Burmeso nouns have three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.[4] Singular concordial suffixes are:
- -ab ‘masculine’
- -an ‘feminine’
- -ora ‘neuter’
Examples of nominal concordial suffixes in usage:
koya
grandfather
bek-ab
good-M.SG
‘Grandfather is good.’
asia
grandmother
ek-an
good-F.SG
‘Grandmother is good.’
Basic vocabulary
Basic vocabulary of Burmeso (singular and plural nominal forms) listed in Foley (2018):[2]
Burmeso basic vocabulary gloss singular plural ‘bird’ tahabo tohwodo ‘blood’ sar sarido ‘bone’ hiwraf himaruro ‘breast’ mom momut ‘ear’ ara ‘eat’ bomo ‘egg’ kahup kohuro ‘eye’ anar anuro ‘fire’ hor horemir ‘give’ i ~ o ‘hair’ ihna ihiro ‘leg’ ago agoro ‘louse’ hati ‘man’ tamo dit ‘name’ ahau ‘one’ neisano ‘see’ ihi ‘stone’ ako hiruro ‘sun’ misiabo misiado ‘tooth’ arawar araruro ‘tree’ haman hememido ‘water’ baw bagaruro ‘woman’ nawak nudo
Many Burmeso nouns display irregular and suppletive plural forms.[2]
gloss singular plural ‘man’ tamo dit ‘banana’ mibo mirar ‘dog’ jamo juwdo ‘pig’ sibo sirudo ‘white cockatoo’ ayab ayot ‘house’ konor konodo ‘mat’ wira wirasamir
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[5] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[6]
gloss Burmeso head agum hair ihiro eye jenar tooth araruro leg jago louse hati dog jamo pig sibo bird tohodo egg kohũp blood sar bone hiurap skin asi memiro tree haman man tamo sun misiavo water bau fire hor stone ako name ahau eat bomo one neisano two sor
References
- ^ Burmeso at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- ^ Haspelmath, Martin. "Grammatical, Gender and Linguistic Complexity Volume I: General issues and Specific studies". langsci-press.org. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
- ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- doi:10.15144/PL-B31
- ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
Further reading
- Donohue, Mark. 2001. Animacy, class and gender in Burmeso. In: Pawley et al. (eds.), The Boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian Linguistics in Honour of Tom Dutton. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.97–117.
- Tasti, Markus and Mark Donohue. 1998. A Small Dictionary of Burmeso. Unpublished ms, University of Sydney.