Tirio languages
| Tirio | |
|---|---|
| Lower Fly River | |
| Geographic distribution | New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Trans–New Guinea |
| Glottolog | tiri1259 |
 Map: The Tirio languages of New Guinea
The Tirio languages
Other Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited | |
The Tirio languages are a family of Trans–New Guinea languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross. The Tirio languages have about 40% of their lexicon in common.
Languages
Evans (2018) lists the Tirio languages as:[2]
- Tirio(Makayam)
- Bitur (Paswam, Mutum)
- Lewada-Dewara, spoken on Dewala village on Sumogi Island
- Adulu (Aturu), also spoken on Sumogi Island
Baramu is somewhat more divergent in vocabulary, but this may reflect language contact rather than divergence in its position within the family. Pronouns are only available for Tirio itself (Makayam).
The moribund language Abom was once classified as a divergent Tirio language, sharing only an eighth of its lexicon with the others, but it turns out to not belong to the family at all, nor to the Anim family that Tirio is a branch of.[3]
A survey of the Tirio languages can be found in Jore and Alemán (2002).[4]
Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[5]
*m *n *p *t *k *mb *nd *ŋg *s *w *ɾ *j *ɣ
Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.
Pronouns
The pronouns are:[5]
sg pl 1 *naoɣ *naoj 2 *ɣaoɣ *jaoɣ 3m *igi *jiɣ 3f –
Evolution
Lower Fly River (Makayam and Baramu) reflexes of
- Makayam makoːth, Baramu mangoːt ‘chin’ < *maŋgat[a] ‘mouth, teeth’
- Makayam (Giribam dialect) Bitur, Baramu moːm ‘seed’ < *maŋgV ‘fruit, seed, round’
- Makayam sakoa ‘lower arm’, Baramu saga ‘arm’ < *sa(ŋg,k)(a,i)l ‘hand, claw’
References
- ^ New Guinea World, Fly River
- ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- ^ "Lower Fly River - newguineaworld".
- ^ Jore, Tim and Laura Alemán. 2002. Sociolinguistic survey of the Tirio language family. Manuscript. Ukarumpa: SIL-PNG.
- ^ a b New Guinea World, Lower Fly River
- ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- OCLC 67292782.
External links
- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Lower Fly River