Dera (Dra, Dla) Mangguar and Kamberataro (Komberatoro) is a
Senagi language of
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 ...
and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...
. In Papua New Guinea, it is primarily spoken in Kamberataro village (),
Amanab Rural LLG,
Sandaun Province
Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost mainland Provinces of Papua New Guinea, province of Papua New Guinea. It covers an area of 35,920 km2 (13868 m2) and has a population of 248,411 (2011 census). The capita ...
.
Dialects
There are two dialects, namely ''Dla proper'' and ''Menggwa Dla''. Dla proper is spoken in the three main villages of Kamberatoro Mission (3°36′S 141°03′E; 1299 feet) in Papua New Guinea, Amgotro Mission (3°38′S 140°58′E; 1969 feet) in West Papua, and Komando village in West Papua. Komando village was formerly a Dutch border post. Other Dla proper speaking villages in Papua New Guinea are Tamarbek (), Akamari (), New Kamberatoro; Old Kamberatoro, ‘Border Village’, Nimberatoro (), Nindebai (), Mamamora (), Yamamainda (), Orkwanda (), and Lihen (). West Papua, Indonesia has the Dla villages of Amgotro, Komando, Indangan, Mongwefi, Buku, and Agrinda, which are mostly located in Yaffi District,
Keerom Regency.
Menggwa Dla, the less populous of the two dialects, is spoken in five villages located between Kamberatoro Mission and Komando village, which are Menggau, Wahai (), Ambofahwa (alternatively known as Wahai Nº 2), Wanggurinda (; 3°34′59″S, 141°01′41″E) in Papua New Guinea, and Menggwal (3°33′53″S, 140°59′04″E) in West Papua.
Status
Dla (Dera) speakers are shifting to
Tok Pisin
Tok Pisin (,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh ; Tok Pisin ), often referred to by English speakers as "New Guinea Pidgin" or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an ...
and
Papuan Malay
Papuan Malay or Irian Malay is a Malay-based creole language spoken in the Indonesian part of New Guinea. It emerged as a contact language among tribes in Indonesian New Guinea (now Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and We ...
. De Sousa (2006) reports that the younger generation born in the 1990s or later usually cannot speak Dera fluently, whereas the older generation remains fluent.
Phonology
Dera has 14 consonants (4 less than
Angor), which are:
Dera has 5 vowels (2 less than
Angor), which are:
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words of Dera dialects are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
:
References
{{Languages of Papua New Guinea
Senagi languages
Languages of Sandaun Province
Languages of western New Guinea