The Tirio languages are a family of Trans–New Guinea languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross. The Tirio languages have about 40% of their lexicon in common.
| Tirio | |
|---|---|
| Lower Fly River | |
| Geographic distribution | New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Trans–New Guinea |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | tiri1259 |
 Map: The Tirio languages of New Guinea
The Tirio languages
Other Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited | |
Languages
editEvans (2018) lists the Tirio languages as:[2]
- Tirio (Makayam)
- Bitur (Paswam, Mutum)
- Lewada-Dewara, spoken on Dewala village on Sumogi Island
- Adulu (Aturu), also spoken on Sumogi Island
Baramu is somewhat more divergent in vocabulary, but this may reflect language contact rather than divergence in its position within the family. Pronouns are only available for Tirio itself (Makayam).
The moribund language Abom was once classified as a divergent Tirio language, sharing only an eighth of its lexicon with the others, but it turns out to not belong to the family at all, nor to the Anim family that Tirio is a branch of.[3]
A survey of the Tirio languages can be found in Jore and Alemán (2002).[4]
Phonemes
editUsher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[5]
*m *n *p *t *k *mb *nd *ŋg *s *w *ɾ *j *ɣ
Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.
Pronouns
editThe pronouns are:[5]
sg pl 1 *naoɣ *naoj 2 *ɣaoɣ *jaoɣ 3m *igi *jiɣ 3f –
Evolution
editLower Fly River (Makayam and Baramu) reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma:[6]
- Makayam makoːth, Baramu mangoːt ‘chin’ < *maŋgat[a] ‘mouth, teeth’
- Makayam (Giribam dialect) Bitur, Baramu moːm ‘seed’ < *maŋgV ‘fruit, seed, round’
- Makayam sakoa ‘lower arm’, Baramu saga ‘arm’ < *sa(ŋg,k)(a,i)l ‘hand, claw’
References
edit- ^ New Guinea World, Fly River
- ^ Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- ^ "Lower Fly River - newguineaworld".
- ^ Jore, Tim and Laura Alemán. 2002. Sociolinguistic survey of the Tirio language family. Manuscript. Ukarumpa: SIL-PNG.
- ^ a b New Guinea World, Lower Fly River
- ^ Pawley, Andrew; Hammarström, Harald (2018). "The Trans New Guinea family". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–196. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
External links
edit- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Lower Fly River