Melpa (also written Medlpa) is a

Papuan language The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian and non- Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...

spoken by about 130,000 people predominantly in

Mount Hagen Mount Hagen ( tpi, Maun Hagen) is the third largest city in Papua New Guinea, with a population of 46,250. It is the capital of the Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainland Papua New Guinea, a ...

and the surrounding

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Western Highlands Province Western Highlands is a province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Mount Hagen. The province covers an area of 4,299 km2, and there are 362,850 inhabitants (2011 census), making the Western Highlands the most densely populated pr ...

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 ...

. Melpa is a

Pandanus language A pandanus language is an elaborate avoidance language among several of the peoples of the eastern New Guinea Highlands, used when collecting ''Pandanus'' nuts. Use Annually, people camp in the forest to harvest and cook the nuts of karuka (both ...

used during

karuka The karuka (''Pandanus julianettii'', also called karuka nut and ''Pandanus'' nut) is a species of tree in the family Pandanaceae and an important regional food crop in New Guinea. The nuts are more nutritious than coconuts, and are so popul ...

harvest. Melpa has a

voiceless velar lateral fricative The voiceless velar lateral fricative is a rare speech sound. As one element of an affricate, it is found for example in Zulu and Xhosa (see velar lateral ejective affricate). However, a simple fricative has only been reported from a few la ...

, written as a double-barred el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). Melpa is notable for its

binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1) * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...

counting system. A dictionary of Melpa has been compiled by Stewart, Strathern and Trantow (2011).

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Numeral system

Melpa language in films

Temboka, a dialect of Melpa, is the native language of the Ganiga tribe, who featured prominently in the Highlands Trilogy of documentaries by Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly ('' First Contact'', ''Joe Leahy's Neighbours'', and ''

Black Harvest Black Harvest may refer to: * Black Harvest (1993 film), a Danish drama film * Black Harvest (1992 film) ''Black Harvest'' is a 1992 Australian-Papua New Guinea documentary directed by Australians Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson. It is the thi ...

''). The documentary ''

Ongka's Big Moka ''Ongka's Big Moka: The Kawelka of Papua New Guinea'' is a 1970s documentary film, part of Granada Television's ''Disappearing World'' Series which ran from 1969–1993. It was first aired in the UK on 11 December 1974, and was subsequently a ...

'' also has Melpa dialogue.

References

External links

Melpa laterals
*Kay Owens

section "The Melpa Counting System". ''Mathematics Education Research Journal'' vol. 13 (April 2001),
Melpa Phonology
{{Chimbu–Wahgi languages Chimbu–Wahgi languages Languages of Western Highlands Province Pandanus avoidance registers