Uhunduni, also known as Damal (''Damal-kal'') and Amung (''Amung-kal'') after two of its dialects, is the language of the
Amung people and
Damal people. It is a
Trans–New Guinea language that forms an independent branch of that family in the classification of
Malcolm Ross (2005). However, it is treated as an isolate by Palmer (2018).
This language family is also called Ingkipilu in a classification by
Anton Moeliono. The word ''Damal'' came from the
Dani people
The Dani (also spelled Ndani) are an ethnic group from the New Guinea Highlands, Central Highlands of Western New Guinea in Baliem Valley, Highland Papua, Indonesia. Around 100,000 people live in the Baliem Valley, consisting of representatives ...
, while ''Uhunduni'' came from the
Moni people.
Dialects are Amongme, Amung, Damal, Enggipilu.
Classification
Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for Uhunduni to be classified as part of
Trans-New Guinea, though they do note the following lexical resemblances between Uhunduni and
proto-Trans-New Guinea.
*''no''- ‘eat’ < *na-
*''mo''- come’ < *me-
*''mini''- ‘sit’ < *mVna-
*''eme''- ‘give’ < *mV-
Pronouns
Ross (2005) lists the pronouns as:
:
''Iru'' is an inclusive dual.
Vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words of Damal (Uhunduni) are from the Trans-New Guinea database, citing Voorhoeve (1975).
[Voorhoeve, C.L. 1975. ''Languages of Irian Jaya Checklist''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.]
:
Literature
The
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
in Damal was published in 1988.
*Damal people and CMA. 1988. ''Haik-A Ongam Kal: Perjanjian Baru Dalam Bahasa Damal
aik-A Ongam Kal: The New Testament in Damal'. Jakarta: Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia.
References
{{Papuan languages
Amung–Dem languages
Languages of Western New Guinea