The East Strickland or Strickland River languages are a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of
Papuan languages
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 geogr ...
.
Languages
The East Strickland languages actually form a
language continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...
.
Shaw (1986) recognizes six languages, which are:
*Upper:
Fembe (Agala),
Konai
*
Odoodee (Tomu)
*Central/Middle:
Gobasi (Nomad),
Kubo,
Samo
Samo (–) founded the first recorded political union of Slavic tribes, known as Samo's Empire (''realm'', ''kingdom'', or ''tribal union''), stretching from Silesia to present-day Slovakia, ruling from 623 until his death in 658. According to ...
(Daba)
Gobasi, Odoodee and Samo, but especially Gobasi, are also known as "Nomad".
Pronouns
Pronouns are:
:
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from McElhanon & Voorhoeve (1970), Shaw (1973), and Shaw (1986), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
Evolution
Supposed East Strickland reflexes of
proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:
:
*''(da)subu'' ‘ashes’ < *sumbu
*''si''- ‘burn’ < *nj(a,e,i)-
*''na''- ‘eat’ < *na-
*''magara'' ‘mouth’ < *maŋgat
*''korofu'' ‘skin’ < *(ŋg,k)a(n,t)apu
*''mere(ma)'' ‘tongue’ < *me(l,n)e
*''mini'' ‘nose’ < *mundu
Bibo language:
*''(da)suf'' ‘ashes’ < *sumbu
Agala language:
*''fulu(ma) ali'' ‘to fly’ < *pululu-
References
*
{{Languages of Papua New Guinea
Languages of Papua New Guinea
Strickland–Soari languages