The Finisterre languages are a
language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...
, spoken in the
Finisterre Range
The Finisterre Range is a mountain range in north-eastern Papua New Guinea. The highest point is ranked 41st in the world by prominence with an elevation of 4,150 m. Although the range's high point is not named on official maps, the name "Mount ...
of Papua New Guinea, classified within the original
Trans–New Guinea (TNG) proposal, and
William A. Foley considers their TNG identity to be established. They share with the
Huon languages
The Huon languages are a language family, spoken on the Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea, that was classified within the original Trans–New Guinea languages, Trans–New Guinea (TNG) proposal, and William A. Foley considers their TNG iden ...
a small closed class of verbs taking pronominal object prefixes some of which are cognate across both families (Suter 2012), strong morphological evidence that they are related.
The most populous Finisterre languages are Wantoat, Rawa, and Yopno, with about 10,000 speakers apiece, and Iyo, with about half that number.
Internal structure
Huon and Finisterre, and then the connection between them, were identified by
Kenneth McElhanon (1967, 1970). They are clearly valid language families. Finisterre contains six clear branches. Beyond that, classification is based on lexicostatistics, which does not provide precise classification results. The outline below follows McElhanon and Carter et al. (2012).
* Finisterre family
** Erap branch
***Boana:
Nuk–
Nek
Filippo Neviani (born 6 January 1972), known by his stage name Nek, is an Italian singer-songwriter and musician. Nek is popular in Italy and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and has performed and released most of his albums in both Italia ...
,
Nakama,
Numanggang,
Munkip
***
Finongan,
Gusan,
Mamaa
***
Nimi Nimi may refer to
* Nimi (king), a king of the Solar dynasty in Hindu mythology
* Nimi language, spoken in Papua New Guinea
* Niimi, Okayama, Japan
* Non-Instrumental Movement Inhibition, an aspect of body language
{{disambiguation ...
,
Sauk (Ma Manda),
Uri
Uri may refer to:
Places
* Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland
* Úri, a village and commune in Hungary
* Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province
* Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India
* Uri (island), off Malakula Island in V ...
** Gusap–Mot branch
***
Madi
Multichannel Audio Digital Interface (MADI) standardized
Standardization (American English) or standardisation (British English) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties ...
(Gira),
Neko,
Nekgini
***
Ngaing,
Rawa,
Ufim,
Iyo (Nahu)
** Uruwa branch:
Sakam (Kutong) –
Som,
Nukna (Komutu),
Yau, ?
Weliki
** Wantoat branch:
Awara–
Wantoat (Yagawak, Bam),
Tuma-Irumu
** Warup branch:
Asaro'o (Morafa) –
Molet,
Bulgebi,
Degenan–Tanda,
Forak,
Guya (Guiarak),
Gwahatike
Gwahatike (also called Dahating or Gwatike) is a language generally classified in the Warup branch of the Finisterre family of Finisterre–Huon languages. As of 2003, it was spoken by 1570 people in Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in several villa ...
(Dahating),
Muratayak (Asat, Yagomi)
** Yupna branch:
Domung–
Ma (Mebu),
Nankina,
Bonkiman–
Yopno (Kewieng, Wandabong, Nokopo, Isan), ?
Yout Wam
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from McElhanon & Voorhoeve (1970) and Retsema et al. (2009), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
:
References
External links
ELAR archive of Documenting Yupna Diversity
Bibliography
*
* Suter, Edgar (2012). Verbs with pronominal object prefixes in Finisterre-Huon languages. In: Harald Hammarström and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.). ''History, contact and classification of Papuan languages.''
pecial Issue 2012 of Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 23-58. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.
* Claassen, Oren R. and Kenneth A. McElhanon. 1970. Languages of the Finisterre Range. ''Papers in New Guinea Linguistics'' No. 11, 45–78. Caberra: Pacific Linguistics.
* Carter, John, Katie Carter, John Grummitt, Bonnie MacKenzie and Janell Masters. 2012. ''A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Mur Village Vernaculars''. Dallas: SIL International.
urvey of Warup languages* Smith, Geoffrey P. 1988. Morobe counting systems. ''Papers in New Guinea Linguistics'' No. 26, 1–132.
{{Trans–New Guinea languages
Languages of Papua New Guinea