The Dagan or Meneao Range languages are a small family of
Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in the
Meneao Range of the "
Bird's Tail
The Papuan Peninsula, also known as the Bird's Tail Peninsula, is a large peninsula in Papua New Guinea, southeast of the city of Lae, that makes up the southeastern portion of the island of New Guinea. The peninsula is the easternmost extent of t ...
" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea, the easternmost Papuan languages on the mainland. They are the most divergent of the several small families within the
Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.
Languages
The languages are:
*
Onjob
* Southwest
**
Daga
**
Maiwa language,
Mapena
* East
** Southeast:
Ginuman,
Kanasi (Sona)
** Northeast:
Dima (Jimajima),
Umanakaina (Gwedena), and the nearly extinct
Turaka
Although clearly related, they are not particularly close. Umanakaina and Ginuman, for example, are only 23% lexically similar.
Pronouns
Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as:
[New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range]
/ref>
:
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from SIL field notes (1965, 1967, 1973), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
Evolution
Dagan reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma:Daga language
Daga (Dimuga, Nawp) is a non-Austronesian language of Papua New Guinea. Daga is spoken by about 9,000 people as of 2007. The peoples that speak Daga are located in the Rabaraba subdistrict of Milne Bay district, and in the Abau subdistrict of t ...
:
*''ama'' 'breast' < *amu
*''meri (nawa)'' 'tongue' < *me(l,n)e
*''ira'' 'tree' < *inda
Kanasi language
Kanasi (or Sona) is the easternmost Papuan language of New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port ...
:
*''asi'' 'ear' < *kand(e,i)k(V]
*''etepa'' 'bark' < *(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu 'skin'
*''obosa'' 'wind' < *kumbutu
*''oman'' 'stone' < *ka(m,mb)u V*''nene'' 'bird' < *n(e)i
References
;Notes
;Sources
*
{{Papuan languages
Southeast Papuan languages
Languages of Milne Bay Province
Languages of Oro Province