The Border or Upper Tami languages are an independent language family, family of Papuan languages in Malcolm Ross (linguist), Malcolm Ross's version of the Trans–New Guinea languages, Trans–New Guinea proposal. Unlike the neighboring Sepik languages and many other Papuan language families of northern New Guinea, Border languages do not have grammatical gender or number (dual and plural forms).

Name

The Border family is named after the Indonesia – Papua New Guinea border, which it spans. Other than the Border languages, the Skou languages, Skou, Senagi languages, Senagi, Pauwasi languages, Pauwasi, Anim languages, Anim, and Yam languages, Yam families also span the Indonesia – Papua New Guinea border.

Classification history

Cowan (1957) tentatively proposed a "Tami" family, named after the Tami River, that included the modern Border and Sko languages, Sko language families. Some of the previously unclassified languages did turn out to be Sko, and were added to that family; the remainder (including the languages of the upper Tami) constitute the Border family.

Languages

Laycock classified Morwap as an isolate, but noted pronominal similarities with Border. Ross included Morwap in Border but noted that they do not appear to share any lexical similarities. However, his Morwap data were quite poor. Usher included it as a branch of Border.

Foley (2018)

William A. Foley, Foley (2018) provides the following classification. ;Border family *Taikat: Auyi language, Auyi, Taikat language, Taikat *Bewani: Ainbai language, Ainbai, Kilmeri language, Kilmeri, Ningera language, Ningera, Pagi language, Pagi *Waris: Amanab language, Amanab, Auwe language, Auwe (Simog language, Simog), Daonda language, Daonda, Imonda language, Imonda, Manem language, Manem, Senggi language, Senggi (Viid language, Viid), Waina language, Waina (Sowanda language, Sowanda), Waris language, Waris

Usher (2020)

The Border languages are: He does not mention Ningera language, Ningera, subsuming it into another language.

Pronouns

The pronouns that Ross (2005) reconstructs for proto-Border are the following: : Foley (2018) lists pronouns for the following five Border languages. :

Cognates

Border family cognates (Awyi language, Awyi, Taikat language, Taikat, Kilmeri language, Kilmeri, Waris language, Waris, Imonda language, Imonda) listed by William A. Foley, Foley (2018): :

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database: :

Migration history

200–250 years ago, Bewani speakers rapidly expanded and migrated towards neighboring regions, which started off chain migrations among various peoples of the region. The migration of Bewani speakers split up the territory of Kwomtari languages, Kwomtari speakers, and Fas language, Fas was displaced to the swampy area of Utai (). The displaced Fas speakers then expanded further east into One language, One territory, causing conflicts between the Fas and One peoples in the Kabore area (). The Pagei language, Pagei, Bewani language, Bewani, Bo language (New Guinea), Bo, and Ningera language, Ningera peoples expanded down the Pual River to displace speakers of Inner Skou languages, Inner Skou and Serra Hills languages, Serra Hills languages. Inner Skou speakers were then forced to migrate, displacing Barupu language, Barupu/Warapu language, Warapu speakers (Piore River languages, Piore River branch). Bewani speakers, however, were not able to expand eastward into the lowland swampy areas occupied by Busa language (Papuan), Busa and Yale language, Yale speakers, who were themselves pushed out of the more fertile hills into the lowland swamps. Westward expansion of Bewani speakers was halted by fighting in Kaure language, Kaure territory.

References

External links

Border languages database at TransNewGuinea.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Border Languages (New Guinea) Border languages (New Guinea), Northwest Papuan languages Languages of western New Guinea Languages of Sandaun Province Language families