The Mombum languages, also known as the Komolom or Muli Strait languages, are a pair of
Trans–New Guinea languages
Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as parts of Indonesia.
Trans–New Guinea is the third-la ...
,
Mombum (Komolom) and
Koneraw, spoken on
Komolom Island just off
Yos Sudarso Island
Pulau Yos Sudarso or Pulau Dolok is an island separated only by the narrow Muli Strait from the main island of New Guinea. It is part of the Merauke Regency, in the Indonesian province of South Papua. The island is leaf-shaped, about long with a ...
, and on the southern coast of Yos Sudarso Island, respectively, on the southern coast of New Guinea. Komolom Island is at the southern end of the
Muli Strait.
[New Guinea World, Muli Strait]
/ref>
History of classification
Mombum was first classified as a branch isolate of the Central and South New Guinea languages in Stephen Wurm's 1975 expansion for Trans–New Guinea, a position tentatively maintained by Malcolm Ross, though he cannot tell if the similarities are shared innovations or retentions from proto
Proto or PROTO may refer to:
Language
* Proto-, an English prefix meaning "first"
Media
* ''Proto'' (magazine), an American science magazine
* Radio Proto in Cyprus
Music
* ''Proto'' (Holly Herndon album), 2019
* ''Proto'' (Leo O'Kelly ...
-TNG. Usher instead links them to the Asmat languages.[ Koneraw is clearly related to Mombum, but was overlooked by early classifications. Along with the ]Kolopom languages
The Kolopom languages are a family of Trans–New Guinea languages
Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea ...
, they are the languages spoken on Yos Sudarso Island
Pulau Yos Sudarso or Pulau Dolok is an island separated only by the narrow Muli Strait from the main island of New Guinea. It is part of the Merauke Regency, in the Indonesian province of South Papua. The island is leaf-shaped, about long with a ...
(Kolopom Island).
Noting insufficient evidence, Pawley and Hammarström (2018), who refer to the languages as the ''Komolom'' branch, tentatively leave it as unclassified rather than as part of Trans-New Guinea.
Pronouns
Pronouns are:
:
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from McElhanon & Voorhoeve (1970) and Voorhoeve (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
References
*
External links
* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Proto–Muli Strait
{{Papuan languages
Languages of Indonesia
Languages of western New Guinea
Asmat–Mombum languages