The Greater Binanderean or Guhu-Oro languages are a

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in h ...

spoken along the northeast coast of the

Papuan Peninsula The Papuan Peninsula, also known as the Bird's Tail Peninsula, is a large peninsula in Papua New Guinea, southeast of the city of Lae, that makes up the southeastern portion of the island of New Guinea. The peninsula is the easternmost extent of th ...

– the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea – and appear to be a recent expansion from the north. They were classified as a branch of the

Trans–New Guinea languages Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive Language family, family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as Western New Guinea, parts of Indonesia. ...

Stephen Wurm Stephen Adolphe Wurm ( hu, Wurm István Adolf, ; 19 August 1922 – 24 October 2001) was a Hungarian-born Australian linguist. Early life Wurm was born in Budapest, the second child to the German-speaking Adolphe Wurm and the Hungarian-sp ...

(1975) and Malcolm Ross (2005), but removed (along with the related

Goilalan languages The Goilalan or Wharton Range languages are a language family spoken around the Wharton Range in the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea. They were classified as a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages by Stephen Wurm (1975), but only tentatively r ...

) by Timothy Usher (2020). The Binandere family proper is transparently valid; Ross connected it to the Guhu-Semane isolate based on pronominal evidence, and this has been confirmed by Smallhorn (2011). Proto-Binanderean (which excludes Guhu-Samane) has been reconstructed in Smallhorn (2011).

Language contact

There is evidence that settlements of people speaking Oceanic languages along the Binanderean coast were gradually absorbed into inland communities speaking Binanderean languages (Bradshaw 2017). For instance, the SOV word order of Papuan Tip languages is due to Binanderean influence.Bradshaw, Joel (2017). Evidence of contact between Binanderean and Oceanic languages. ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 56:395–414. Korafe displays significant influence from Oceanic languages. Meanwhile, Maisin, spoken in

Oro Province Oro Province, formerly (and officially still) Northern Province, is a coastal province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Popondetta. The province covers 22,800 km2, and has 176,206 inhabitants (2011 census). The province shares l ...

, is an Oceanic language with very heavy Binanderean influence and shows characteristics typical of

mixed languages A mixed language is a language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. It differs from a creole or pidgin language in that, whereas creoles/pidgi ...

. Spoken in

Morobe Province Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands ...

, Guhu-Samane is divergent, which may be due to extensive historical contact with Oceanic languages such as Numbami.

Classification

Greater Binanderean consists of the Guhu-Samane language and the Binanderean languages proper. Smallhorn (2011:444) provides the following classification: *Greater Binanderean ** Guhu-Samane **Binanderean *** Yekora ***North Binanderean **** Suena **** Zia ***Nuclear Binanderean **** Binandere ****South Binanderean *****Orokaivic ****** Aeka (Northern Orokaiva) ****** Orokaiva ****** Hunjara (Mountain Orokaiva) *****Coastal Binanderean ****** Notu-Yega (Ewage) ****** Gaena-Korafe ****** Baruga However, South Binanderean and Nuclear Binanderean are non-genealogical linkages. Usher (2020), who calls the Binanderean languages proper "Oro" after

, classifies them very similarly, apart from not reproducing the non-cladistic linkages:New Guinea World – Guhu-Oro
/ref> *Guhu–Oro (= Greater Binanderean) ** Guhu-Samane **Oro (= Binanderean) *** Binandere *** Yekora *** Ewage-Notu ***Suena–Zia (= North Binanderean) **** Suena **** Zia ***Central Oro (= Orokaivic) **** Aeka **** Orokaiva **** Hunjara ***Southeast Oro (= Coastal Binanderean, minus Ewage-Notu) **** Baruga **** Gaina–Korafe *****Gaina *****Korafe-Yegha

Demographics

Smallhorn (2011:3) provides population figures for the following Binanderean languages. * Guhu-Samane: 12,800 * Suena: 3,000 * Yekora: 1,000 * Zia: 3,000 * Mawae: 943 * Binandere: 7,000 (including Ambasi) * Aeka: 3,400 * Orokaiva: 24,000 * Hunjara: 8,770 * Notu: 12,900 (including Yega) * Gaena: 1,410 * Baruga: 2,230 * Doghoro: 270 * Korafe: 3,630 ;Total: about 80,000

Proto-language

Pronouns

Ross (2005) reconstructs both independent pronouns and verbal person prefixes: : Only 1sg continues the Trans-New Guinea set.

Vocabulary

The following selected reconstructions of Proto-Binanderean and other lower-level reconstructions are from the Trans-New Guinea database: :

Evolution

Greater Binanderean reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:

Binandere language Binandere is a Papuan language spoken in the "tail" of Papua New Guinea. Phonology Binandere has 11 consonants: voiced and voiceless bilabials, alveolars, and velars; voiced labial and alveolar nasals; the flap /ɾ/; the voiced bilabial fricat ...

: * ‘lightning’ < * * ‘nose’ < * * ‘kidney, testicles’ < * ‘internal organs’ * ‘eye’ < * * ‘sap’ < * ‘sap, milk’ * ‘breast’ < * * ‘head’ < * * ‘teeth’ < * ‘tooth’ * ‘spittle’, - ‘to spit’ < * ‘to spit’ * ‘father’ < * * ‘man’ < * * ‘tree’ < * * ‘stone’ < * * ‘darkness’ < * ‘night’ * ‘lightning’ < * ‘(fire)light’ * ‘fire’ < * ‘ashes’ * ‘bird’ < * * ‘eat, drink’ < * * ‘to blow’ < * + verb * ‘short’ < * Korafe language: * ‘egg’ < * ‘internal organs’ * ‘urine’ < * * ‘burning stick’ < * ‘ashes’ * ‘give’ < * * ‘hear, understand’ < * ‘know’ Suena language: * ‘destitute’ < * ‘orphan, widow and child’ * ‘mother’ < * * ‘night’ < * * ‘taro’ < * * ‘netbag’ < * Yega language: * ‘ear’ < *

Phonotactics

Like the Koiarian languages, Binanderean languages only allow for open syllables and do not allow final CVC.

References

* * Smallhorn, Jacinta Mary (2011). ''The Binanderean languages of Papua New Guinea: reconstruction and subgrouping''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

External links

* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Guhu–Oro
Anglican Holy Communion in Binandere, digitized by Richard Mammana and Charles Wohlers
Benunu tepo ae sakrament da kandoari ae ekalesia da jimbo nenei ainda book England da ekalesia da jimbo ango
(1959)

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

digitized by Richard Mammana *King, Copland. 1927. ''Grammar and Dictionary of the Binandere Language, Mamba River, North Division, Papua''. Sydney: D.S. Ford

{{Languages of Papua New Guinea Greater Binanderean languages, Binanderean–Goilalan languages Languages of Oro Province