The Turama–Kikorian languages are a
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 ...
identified by
Arthur Capell
Arthur Capell (28 March 1902 – 10 August 1986) was an Australian linguist, who made major contributions to the study of Australian languages, Austronesian languages and Papuan languages.
Early life
Capell was born in Newtown, New South Wales ...
(1962) and part 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 ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as Western New Guinea, parts of Indonesia.
...
(TNG) family in the classifications of
Stephen Wurm
Stephen Adolphe Wurm ( hu, Wurm István Adolf, ; 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-sp ...
(1975) and
Malcolm Ross (2005). The family is named after the
Turama River and
Kikori River
The Kikori River is a major river in southern Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea. The river has a total length of and flows southeast into the Gulf of Papua, with its delta at the head of the gulf. The settlement of Kikori lies on the de ...
of southern
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 ...
; the alternative name is based more narrowly on the
Omati River.
Languages
The four languages are clearly related, though Rumu is divergent. Ross states that Rumu links the other (Turama) languages to TNG.
* Turama–Kikorian family
** ''
Rumu (Kairi)'' isolate
** Turama (Omati River) branch:
Omati,
Ikobi
Proto-language
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:
[Timothy Usher, New Guinea World]
Proto–Rumu – Omati River
/ref>
:
Vocabulary comparison
Basic vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words are from Franklin (1973), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
Fauna names
Below are some turtle names, with additional names in Porome, Kiwaian, and Kutubuan languages also provided for comparison:[Georges, A., Guarino, F., & Bito, B. (2006)]
Freshwater turtles of the TransFly region of Papua New Guinea – notes on diversity, distribution, reproduction, harvest and trade
''Wildlife Research'', 33(5), 373.
Names for ''Emydura subglobosa
''Emydura'', the Australian short-necked turtles, are a genus of turtles in the family Chelidae. It was paraphyletic with ''Elseya''. Consequently, it was split into two genera '' Myuchelys'' and ''Elseya'' by Thomson & Georges, 2009.Thomson, S. ...
'' and '' Elseya novaeguineae'' are generally identical or similar.
References
*
External links
* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Proto–Rumu – Omati River
* (ibid.
Proto–Omati River
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turama-Kikorian languages
Kikorian languages
Languages of Gulf Province