Melpa (also written Medlpa) is a

Papuan language The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non-Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...

spoken by about 130,000 people predominantly in

Mount Hagen Mount Hagen ( tpi, Maun Hagen) is the third largest city in Papua New Guinea, with a population of 46,250. It is the capital of the Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainland Papua New Guinea, ...

and the surrounding

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Western Highlands Province Western Highlands is a province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Mount Hagen. The province covers an area of 4,299 km2, and there are 362,850 inhabitants (2011 census), making the Western Highlands the most densely populated pr ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Melpa is a

Pandanus language A pandanus language is an elaborate avoidance language among several of the peoples of the eastern New Guinea Highlands, used when collecting ''Pandanus'' nuts. Use Annually, people camp in the forest to harvest and cook the nuts of karuka (both ...

used during karuka harvest. Melpa has a voiceless velar lateral fricative, written as a double-barred el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). Melpa is notable for its

binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1) * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...

counting system. A dictionary of Melpa has been compiled by Stewart, Strathern and Trantow (2011).

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Numeral system

Melpa language in films

Temboka, a dialect of Melpa, is the native language of the Ganiga tribe, who featured prominently in the Highlands Trilogy of documentaries by

Robin Anderson Robin Anderson (1950 – 2002) was an Australian award-winning documentary filmmaker. Career Anderson was in born in Perth, Western Australia in 1950. After graduating from high school in 1967 she spent a year in Europe including 6 months in Paris ...

and Bob Connolly ('' First Contact'', ''Joe Leahy's Neighbours'', and '' Black Harvest''). The documentary '' Ongka's Big Moka'' also has Melpa dialogue.

References

External links

Melpa laterals
*Kay Owens

section "The Melpa Counting System". ''Mathematics Education Research Journal'' vol. 13 (April 2001),
Melpa Phonology
{{Chimbu–Wahgi languages Chimbu–Wahgi languages Languages of Western Highlands Province Pandanus avoidance registers