The Senagi languages are a small
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply ...
in the classification of
Malcolm Ross, that had been part of
Stephen Wurm
Stephen Adolphe Wurm (, ; 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-speaking Anna Novroczky. ...
's
Trans–New Guinea proposal. They consist of the two languages
Angor and
Dera
Dera or DERA may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, part of the UK Ministry of Defence 1995–2001
* Downtown Eastside Residents Association in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 1973–2010
* Dera ...
.
The Angor language is unusual in that it distinguishes gender in the second- and third-person
dual
Dual or Duals may refer to:
Paired/two things
* Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another
** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality
*** see more cases in :Duality theories
* Dual number, a nu ...
and plural ''(you'' and ''they),'' but not in the singular. It is not clear if Dera does the same.
In Papua New Guinea, they are spoken in
Amanab Rural LLG
Amanab Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. It is located along the border with Keerom Regency, Papua Province, Indonesia and is about 4 to 5 hours' drive from Vanimo town.
Kwomtari languages
Kwo ...
of
Sandaun Province
Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost mainland Provinces of Papua New Guinea, province of Papua New Guinea (also known as home of the sunset). It covers an area of 35,920 km2 (13868 m2) and has a population ...
. They are also spoken across the border in
Keerom Regency
Keerom Regency is one of the regencies (''kabupaten'') in the Papua Province of Indonesia. It was formed from the eastern districts then within Jayapura Regency with effect from 12 November 2002. It covers an area of 9,365 km2, and had a po ...
, Indonesia.
Classification
The Senagi family consists of only two languages:
* Senagi family:
Angor,
Dera
Dera or DERA may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, part of the UK Ministry of Defence 1995–2001
* Downtown Eastside Residents Association in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 1973–2010
* Dera ...
The most promising external links are with the
Sepik
The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the third largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River, Fly and Mamberamo River, Mamberamo. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provi ...
and
Torricelli Torricelli may refer to:
People with the surname
* Evangelista Torricelli (1608–1647), Italian physicist and mathematician
* Robert Torricelli (born 1951), United States politician
* Moreno Torricelli (born 1970), Italian football player
* Gi ...
languages. The pronoun for "I" is reconstructed as ''*wan'' for both proto-Senagi and proto-Sepik, while the Angor masculine dual and plural pronominal suffixes ''-fa-'' and ''-mu-'' appear to reflect the proto-Sepik and proto-Torricelli dual and plural pronominal suffixes ''*-p'' and ''*-m.''
Pronouns
Pronouns are:
:
Grammar
Verbal morphology in Senagi languages is highly complex and irregular.
References
External links
Senagi languages database at TransNewGuinea.org
{{language families
Language families
Papuan languages