The Mek languages are a well established
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply ...
spoken by the
Mek people
The Mek are a Indigenous people of New Guinea, Papuan people living in Dirwemna and Puldama, Yahukimo Regency, Highland Papua, Indonesia. They are closely related to Ketengban people in Pegunungan Bintang Regency.
A television series on The Disc ...
and
Yali people. They form 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, a region corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as Western New Guinea, parts of Indone ...
(TNG) in the classifications of
Stephen Wurm
Stephen Adolphe Wurm (, ; 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-speaking Anna Novroczky. ...
(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
Ketengban, also known as ''Kupel'', is a Papuan language spoken in Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Highland Papua, Indonesia, near the Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country ...
(including Okbap, Omban, Bime, Onya),
Una (Goliath),
Eipomek
* Northern:
Kosarek Yale–
Nipsan
Nipsan (or ''Southern Yali/Yale'', ''Mek Nipsan'') is a Papuan language of Nipsan District, Yahukimo Regency, Highland Papua.
References
Mek languages
{{papuan-lang-stub ...
,
Nalca
''Gunnera tinctoria'', known as giant rhubarb, Chilean rhubarb, or ''nalca'', is a flowering plant species native to southern Chile and neighboring zones in Argentina. It is unrelated to rhubarb, as the two plants belong to different orders, but ...
* 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:[
:
]
Modern reflexes
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, Highland Papua. It spoken by the Eipo people who live along the Eipo River. A large percentage of its vocabulary is shared with ...
:
*''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 Kosarek District, Yahukimo Regency, Highland Papua
Highland Papua () is a provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of the Papuan ...
:
*''ami'' ‘louse’ < *niman
*''si'' ‘tooth’ < *(s,t)i(s,t)i
*''tomo'' < *k(i,u)tuma ‘night’
Yale language
Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges char ...
:
*''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