The Torricelli 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 ...

of about fifty languages of the northern

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 ...

coast, spoken by about 80,000 people. They are named after the

Torricelli Mountains The Torricelli Mountains are a mountain range in Sandaun Province, north-western Papua New Guinea. The highest peak in the range is Mount Sulen at 1650 meters. The Bewani Mountains are located to the west, and the Prince Alexander Mountains are ...

. The most populous and best known Torricelli language is

Arapesh The Arapesh languages are several closely related Torricelli languages of the 32,000 Arapesh people of Papua New Guinea. They are spoken in eastern Sandaun Province and northern East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. The Arapesh languages are a ...

, with about 30,000 speakers. The most promising external relationship for the Torricelli family is the

Sepik languages The Sepik or Sepik River languages are a family of some 50 Papuan languages spoken in the Sepik river basin of northern Papua New Guinea, proposed by Donald Laycock in 1965 in a somewhat more limited form than presented here. They tend to have ...

. In reconstructions of both families, the pronouns have a plural suffix ''*-m'' and a dual suffix ''*-p''.

History

The Torricelli languages occupy three geographically separated areas, evidently separated by later migrations of Sepik-language speakers several centuries ago. Foley considers the Torricelli languages to be autochthonous to the

and nearby surrounding areas, having been resident in the region for at least several millennia. The current distribution of Lower Sepik-Ramu and Sepik (especially Ndu) reflects later migrations from the south and the east. Foley notes that the Lower Sepik and Ndu groups have lower internal diversity comparable to that of the Germanic and

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

languages, while internal diversity within the Torricelli family is considerably higher.

Typological overview

Syntax

The Torricelli languages are unusual among Papuan languages in having a basic clause order of SVO (subject–verb–object). (In contrast, most Papuan languages have SOV order.) It was previously believed that the Torricelli word order was a result of contact with Austronesian languages, but Donohue (2005) believes it is more likely that SVO order was present in the Torricelli proto-language. Torricelli languages display many typological features that are direct opposites of features typical in the much more widespread Trans-New Guinea languages.Foley, Bill. 2005
Papuan languages
as written for the International Encyclopedia of Linguistics 2003. *''Torricelli'': prepositions, SVO, left-branching *''Trans-New Guinea'':

postposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

s, SOV, right-branching However, Bogia and

Marienberg Marienberg is a town in Germany. It was the district capital of the Mittlerer Erzgebirgskreis (Central Ore Mountains district) in the southern part of Saxony, and since August 2008 it has been part of the new district of Erzgebirgskreis. As of ...

languages have SOV word order and postpositions, likely as a result of convergence with Lower Sepik-Ramu and

, which are predominantly SOV. Torricelli languages also lack

clause In language, a clause is a constituent that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic predicate. A typical clause consists of a subject and a syntactic predicate, the latter typically a verb phrase composed of a verb wi ...

chaining constructions, and therefore have no true

conjunction Conjunction may refer to: * Conjunction (grammar), a part of speech * Logical conjunction, a mathematical operator ** Conjunction introduction, a rule of inference of propositional logic * Conjunction (astronomy), in which two astronomical bodies ...

s or clause-linking affixes. Clauses are often simply juxtaposed.

Nouns

In Torricelli and

Lower Sepik-Ramu languages Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eigh ...

, phonological properties of nouns can even determine gender. Like in the Yuat and Lower Sepik-Ramu languages, nouns in Torricelli languages are inflected for number, which is a typological feature not generally found in the Trans–New Guinea,

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...

Lakes Plain The Mamberamo Lakes Plains (Dutch Meervlakte, Malay ''dataran danau-danau'') are a large, flat low-lying area of the Mamberamo River basin in the Indonesian province Papua on the island of New Guinea. The plain is defined by the meandering tribu ...

, West Papuan, Alor–Pantar, and Tor–Kwerba language families.

Classification

Wilhelm Schmidt linked the Wapei and Monumbo branches, and the coastal western and eastern extremes of the family, in 1905. The family was more fully established by David Laycock in 1965. Most recently, Ross broke up Laycock and Z’graggen's (1975) Kombio branch, placing the Kombio language in the Palei branch and leaving Wom as on its own, with the other languages ( Eitiep, Torricelli (Lou), Yambes, Aruek) unclassified due to lack of data. Usher tentatively separates Monumbo, Marienberg, and the Taiap (Gapun) language from the rest of the family in a 'Sepik Coast' branch. *Sepik Coast **

branch: Bungain, Wiarumus (Mandi), Muniwara (Juwal), Urimo, Kamasau, Elepi, Buna ** Monumbo branch (see) ** '' Taiap'' *Torricelli Range ** '' Wom'' **

branch (see) ** Maimai branch:

Nambi Nambi is a pastoral lease and sheep station located about north east of Leonora and south east of Leinster in the Goldfields of Western Australia. The station was established in 1899. The property was owned by the Leonora Pastoral compan ...

(Nabi), Wiaki (Minidien), Beli, Laeko, Maimai proper ( Siliput, Yahang– Heyo) ** West Wapei branch:

Seti The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other p ...

Seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. T ...

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

(a dialect cluster) ** Wapei branch: Gnau, Yis, Yau, Olo, Elkei, Au, Yil, Ningil, Dia– Sinagen (both Alu, Galu), Yapunda, Valman ** Palei branch:

Urim In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim ( he, ''ʾŪrīm'', "lights") and the Thummim ( he, ''Tummīm'', meaning uncertain, possibly "perfections") are elements of the ''hoshen'', the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod. They are ...

Urat Urat may refer to: * Urad, or Urat, a region in Bayannur, Inner Mongolia ** Urad Front Banner ** Urad Middle Banner ** Urad Rear Banner * Urat language, in Papua New Guinea {{disambiguation, geo ...

, Kombio,

Agi Silver iodide is an inorganic compound with the formula Ag I. The compound is a bright yellow solid, but samples almost always contain impurities of metallic silver that give a gray coloration. The silver contamination arises because AgI is hig ...

, Aruop, Wanap (Kayik),

Amol Amol ( fa, آمل – ; ; also Romanized as Āmol and Amul) is a city and the administrative center of Amol County, Mazandaran Province, Iran, with a population of around 300,000 people. Amol is located on the Haraz river bank. It is less tha ...

(Alatil, Aru), Aiku ( Ambrak, Yangum)

Foley (2018)

Foley (2018) provides the following classification. * Bogia group ** Mambuwan ( Monumbo) ** Lilau * Marienberg Hills group ** Buna, Blabla ( Elapi / Samap) ** Kamasau ** Bungain ** Muniwara, Urimo,

Mandi Mandi may refer to: Places * Mandı, Azerbaijan India * Mandi, Jammu and Kashmir, a town on the Mandi River in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir * Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, a city in Himachal Pradesh ** Mandi State, former princely ...

( Wiarumus) * Arapeshan group: Mountain Arapesh ( Bukiyip), Southern Arapesh ( Muhiang / Mufian), Bumbita ( Weri), Abu' *

group:

, Kombio, etc. * Maimai group ** Beli, Laeko-Libuat ** Wiaki ** Siliput, Yahang, Heyo * Wapei-Palei group ** Wapei group: Yis, Yau, Olo, Elkei, Au, Yil,

Alu ALU, Alu or alu may refer to: Computing and science ;Computing *Arithmetic logic unit, a digital electronic circuit ;Biology * Alu sequence, a type of short stretch of DNA *'' Arthrobacter luteus'', a bacterium Organizations * Abraham Lincoln ...

, Ningil, Gnau, Yapunda,

Walman Walman or Walmann is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jake Walman (born 1996), Canadian-American professional ice hockey player * Jerome Walman, American composer * Aleksander Walmann Aleksander Walmann Åsgården (born 12 J ...

( Valman) ** Palei group:

, Aruop ( Srenge), Kayik, Aiku, Braget,

Aru Aru or ARU may refer to: Education * Alpha Rho Upsilon, a defunct fraternity in the United States * Anglia Ruskin University, a university in England * Ardhi University, a Tanzanian public university Places * Aru Islands Regency, a group of isl ...

, Ambrak *

group:

, etc. Foley rejects Laycock's (1975) Kombio-Arapeshan grouping, instead splitting up into the

and

groups.

''Glottolog'' 3.4

Glottolog ''Glottolog'' is a bibliographic database of the world's lesser-known languages, developed and maintained first at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (between 2015 and 2020 at the Max Planck Institute fo ...

'' 3.4 presents a vastly different classification for the "Nuclear Torricelli" languages. * Au- Olo- Elkei *'' Beli'' * Galu-Alu *'' Gnau'' * Kombio-

(10 languages) * Laeko-Libuat *

(7 languages) *'' Minidien'' *

Nabi Nabi may refer to: People *Adil Nabi (born 1994), English footballer *Heiki Nabi (born 1985), Estonian wrestler *Isadore Nabi, satirical pseudonym of Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin, scientists in the 1960s *Mohammad Nabi (born 1985), Afghan c ...

-Metan * Ningil- Yil *Nuclear Maimai (3 languages) *Nuclear

Palai Pallai ( ta, பளை, si, පල්ලෙයි), also spelt Palai, is a small town in the Kilinochchi District, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is located near the coast on the northern peninsula, approximately south-east of Jaffna. ...

(7 languages) *''

'' *'' Wanap'' *West Palai (3 languages):

Yeri Yeri may refer to: *Yeri, Cyprus *Yeri, Tajikistan * Yeri (singer) (born Kim Ye-rim, 1999), South Korean female singer, member of Red Velvet. *Yery Yeru or Eru (Ы ы; italics: ), usually called Y in modern Russian or Yery or Ery historica ...

* West Wapei (8 languages) *'' Wom'' * Yau- Yis

Pronouns

The pronouns Ross (2005) reconstructs for proto-Torricelli are : Foley (2018) reconstructs the independent personal pronouns *ki ‘I’ and *(y)i ‘thou’, and *(y)ip ‘you (pl)’. Foley considers the second-person pronouns to be strong diagnostics for determining membership in the Torricelli family. Foley (2018) reconstructs the following subject agreement prefixes for proto-Torricelli. :

Lexical comparison

The lexical data below is from the Trans-New Guinea database.

Cognate sets

A cognate set for 'louse' in Torricelli languages as compiled by Dryer (2022): :

References

Bibliography

* * Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. ''

Oceanic Linguistics ''Oceanic Linguistics'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on the indigenous languages of the Oceanic area and parts of Southeast Asia, including the indigenous Australian languages, the Papuan languages of New Guinea, ...

'', 7 (1): 36-66. *

External links

Torricelli languages database at TransNewGuinea.org
{{language families Language families Languages of Momase Region Subject–verb–object languages