The Mek languages are a well established
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
of
Papuan languages
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 the
Mek people
The Mek are a Papuan people of Papua, Western New Guinea.
A television series on The Discovery Channel titled ''Living with the Mek'' was aired in 2008.
See also
*Indigenous people of New Guinea
The indigenous peoples of West Papua in Ind ...
s. They form a branch of the
Trans–New Guinea languages
Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as parts of Indonesia.
Trans–New Guinea is the third-la ...
(TNG) in the classifications of
Stephen Wurm
Stephen Adolphe Wurm ( hu, Wurm István Adolf, ; 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-sp ...
(1975) and of
Malcolm Ross (2005).
Mek, then called Goliath, was identified by M. Bromley in 1967. It was placed in TNG by Wurm (1975).
Languages
The Mek languages form three dialect chains (Heeschen 1998):
* Eastern:
Ketengban
Ketengban, also known as ''Kupel'', is a Papuan language of West Papua, near the Papua New Guinea border.
Dialects are Okbab (Okbap), Bime, Onya (Eastern Una; cf. Una
Una and UNA may refer to:
Places
* 160 Una, the asteroid "Una", an asteroi ...
(including Okbap, Omban, Bime, Onya),
Una
Una and UNA may refer to:
Places
* 160 Una, the asteroid "Una", an asteroid named after the Faerie Queene character
* Una River (disambiguation), numerous rivers
* Una, Himachal Pradesh, a town in India
** Una, Himachal Pradesh Assembly constit ...
(Goliath),
Eipomek
* Northern:
Kosarek Yale–
Nipsan
Nipsan (or ''Southern Yali/Yale'', ''Mek Nipsan'') is a Papuan language of Nipsan District, Yahukimo Regency, Highland Papua
Highland Papua ( id, Papua Pegunungan) is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary ...
,
Nalca
''Gunnera tinctoria'', known as giant rhubarb or Chilean rhubarb, is a flowering plant species native to southern Chile and neighbouring zones in Argentina. It is unrelated to rhubarb, as the two plants belong into different orders, but looks s ...
* Western:
Korupun-Sela (including Dagi, Sisibna, Deibula)
Proto-language
Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant and vowel inventories as 'perhaps' as follows:
[New Guinea World]
/ref>
:
:
:
Pronouns
Pronouns are:[
:
The difference between the two 3pl forms is not known. 2pl and 3pl have parallels in Momuna /kun tun/.
]
Basic vocabulary
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[
:
]
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from McElhanon & Voorhoeve (1970), Voorhoeve (1975), and Heeschen (1978), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
Evolution
Mek reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:Eipo language
Eipo (Eipomek), or Lik, is a Mek language of the eastern highlands of Eipumek District, Pegunungan Bintang Regency, West Papua. It spoken by the Eipo people who live along the Eipo River. A large percentage of its vocabulary is shared with Un ...
:
*''mun'' ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
*''kuna'' ‘shadow’ < *k(a,o)nan
*''saŋ'' ‘dancing song’ < *saŋ
*''getane'' ‘sun’ < *kVtane
Bime language:
*''mundo'' ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
Kosarek language
Kosarek (or ''Kosarek Yale'', ''Mek Kosarek'') is a Papuan language used in Anggruk District, Yahukimo Regency, Highland Papua
Highland Papua ( id, Papua Pegunungan) is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of Papuan customa ...
:
*''ami'' ‘louse’ < *niman
*''si'' ‘tooth’ < *(s,t)i(s,t)i
*''tomo'' < *k(i,u)tuma ‘night’
Yale language
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
:
*''de'' ‘to burn’ < *nj(a,e,i)
*''mon'' ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
*''xau'' ‘ashes’ < *kambu
Further reading
*Heeschen, Volker. 1978. The Mek languages of Irian Jaya with special reference to the Eipo language. ''Irian'' 7(2): 3–46.
*Heeschen, Volker. 1992. The position of the Mek languages of Irian Jaya among the Papuan languages: History, typology and speech. ''Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde'' 148(3/4): 465–488.
References
*
External links
* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Proto–Momuna–Mek
* (ibid.
Proto–Mek
{{Papuan languages
Languages of Papua New Guinea
Momuna–Mek languages