Engan languages

The Engan, or more precisely Enga – Southern Highland , languages are a small family of Papuan languages of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The two branches of the family are rather distantly related, but were connected by Franklin and Voorhoeve (1973).Karl J. Franklin and C. L. Voorhoeve. 1973. Languages near the intersection of the Gulf, Southern Highlands and Western Districts. In Karl J. Franklin (ed.), ''The linguistic situation in the Gulf District and adjacent areas, Papua New Guinea'', 149-186. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.

Name

The name "Engan" is often restricted to the northern branch of the family, to those languages transparently related to Enga, but also sometimes to the family as a whole.

Languages

The languages fall into three quite distinct branches: Engan proper, Huli, and Southern Highlands:
* North Engan (Engan proper): Enga– Kyaka– Lembena, Ipili, Bisorio (Nete, Iniai)
* South Engan (Kewa–Huli)
** Huli
**Southern Highlands: Angal (Mendi), Kewa; Samberigi (Sau)

Classification

The Engan family constitutes a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, but the evidence for this is weak.

There are a considerable number of resemblances with Wiru. Borrowing has not been ruled out as the reason for this, though the pronouns are similar as well.

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:

:

Vowels are *i *e *a *o *u.

Pronouns

Pronouns are easy to reconstruct for the northern and southern branches, but much more difficult for Engan as a whole. Ross (2005) has the following for the singular, Wiru has been added for comparison:

:

Usher (2020) has not yet published reconstruction of Engan as a whole, but has done Engan proper:New Guinea World, Trans-Enga
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:

Vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-Trans Enga (Proto-Engan) by Usher (2020) are:

:

Evolution

The Enga-Kewa-Huli reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma, if Engan languages are indeed members of the Trans-New Guinea family, are:

Enga:
*''mona'' ‘heart’ < *mundun
*''yaka'' ‘bird’ < *
*''lyaŋa'' ‘ashes’ < *
*''ŋaŋa'' ‘baby < *ŋaŋ(a)
* ‘mother’ < *
*''kuri'' ‘bone’ < *kondaC
*''kare'' ‘ear’ < *
*''ne-'' ‘eat’ < *na
* ‘father’ < *apa
*''iti'' ‘hair’ < *
*''endo'' ‘fire’ < *
*''lema'' ‘louse’ < *niman
*''kana'' ‘moon’ < *
*''mana'' ‘instructions’ < *mana
*''kitama'' ‘morning’ < *
*''kumi-'' ‘die’ < *kumV-
*''re-'' ‘speak’ < *nde-
*''maa'' ‘taro’ < *mV
*''ita'' ‘tree’ < *inda

Huli:
*''ega'' ‘bird’ < *
*''na-'' ‘eat’ < *na-
*''aba'' ‘father’ < *apa
*''iri'' ‘hair’ < *
*''ira'' ‘tree’ < *inda
*''ma'' ‘taro’ < *mV

Kewa:
*''ama'' ‘mother’ < *
*''ibi'' ‘name’ < *imbi
*''iri'' ‘hair’ < *
*''uni'' ‘bone’ < *kwanjaC
*''apu'' ‘tail’ < *
*''lema'' ‘louse’ < *
*''oma'' ‘die’ < *kumV-
*''reka-'' ‘stand’ < *
*''la-'' ‘talk’ < *nde-
*''maa'' ‘taro’ < *mV
*''yaa'' ‘bird’ < *

Mendi:
*''am'' ‘mother’ < *
*''ap'' ‘father’ < *apa
*''mbi'' ‘name’ < *imbi
*''ome-'' ‘die’ < *kumV-

Vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Enga and Kewa from William A. Foley (1986):Foley, William A. (1986).
The Papuan Languages of New Guinea
'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .

:

References

*

Further reading

* Ross, Malcolm. 2014
Proto-Engan
''TransNewGuinea.org''.

External links

* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Enga – Southern Highlands

**(ibid.
Trans-Enga

{{Languages of Papua New Guinea

Languages of Papua New Guinea
Papuan languages
Language families
Northeast New Guinea languages