The Mek languages are a well established
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 ...
spoken by the
Mek peoples. They form a branch of the
Trans–New Guinea languages (TNG) in the classifications of
Stephen Wurm (1975) and of
Malcolm Ross (2005).
Mek, then called Goliath, was identified by M. Bromley in 1967. It was placed in TNG by Wurm (1975).
Languages
The Mek languages form three dialect chains (Heeschen 1998):
* Eastern:
Ketengban (including Okbap, Omban, Bime, Onya),
Una
Una and UNA may refer to:
Places
* 160 Una, the asteroid "Una", an asteroid named after the Faerie Queene character
* Una River (disambiguation), numerous rivers
* Una, Himachal Pradesh, a town in India
** Una, Himachal Pradesh Assembly constit ...
(Goliath),
Eipomek
* Northern:
Kosarek Yale–
Nipsan,
Nalca
* Western:
Korupun-Sela (including Dagi, Sisibna, Deibula)
Proto-language
Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant and vowel inventories as 'perhaps' as follows:
[New Guinea World]
/ref>
:
:
:
Pronouns
Pronouns are:[
:
The difference between the two 3pl forms is not known. 2pl and 3pl have parallels in Momuna /kun tun/.
]
Basic vocabulary
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[
:
]
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from McElhanon & Voorhoeve (1970), Voorhoeve (1975), and Heeschen (1978), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
Evolution
Mek reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:Eipo language
Eipo (Eipomek), or Lik, is a Mek language of the eastern highlands of Eipumek District, Pegunungan Bintang Regency, West Papua. It spoken by the Eipo people who live along the Eipo River. A large percentage of its vocabulary is shared with Un ...
:
*''mun'' ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
*''kuna'' ‘shadow’ < *k(a,o)nan
*''saŋ'' ‘dancing song’ < *saŋ
*''getane'' ‘sun’ < *kVtane
Bime language:
*''mundo'' ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
Kosarek language
Kosarek (or ''Kosarek Yale'', ''Mek Kosarek'') is a Papuan language used in Anggruk District, Yahukimo Regency, Highland Papua
Highland Papua ( id, Papua Pegunungan) is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of Papuan customa ...
:
*''ami'' ‘louse’ < *niman
*''si'' ‘tooth’ < *(s,t)i(s,t)i
*''tomo'' < *k(i,u)tuma ‘night’
Yale language:
*''de'' ‘to burn’ < *nj(a,e,i)
*''mon'' ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
*''xau'' ‘ashes’ < *kambu
Further reading
*Heeschen, Volker. 1978. The Mek languages of Irian Jaya with special reference to the Eipo language. ''Irian'' 7(2): 3–46.
*Heeschen, Volker. 1992. The position of the Mek languages of Irian Jaya among the Papuan languages: History, typology and speech. ''Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde'' 148(3/4): 465–488.
References
*
External links
* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Proto–Momuna–Mek
* (ibid.
Proto–Mek
{{Papuan languages
Languages of Papua New Guinea
Momuna–Mek languages