Wharton Range Languages

The Goilalan or Wharton Range languages are a language family spoken around the Wharton Range in the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea. They were classified as a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages by Stephen Wurm (1975), but only tentatively retained there in the classification of Malcolm Ross (linguist), Malcolm Ross (2005) and removed entirely by Timothy Usher (2020).

Languages

The languages are,NewGuineaWorld - Wharton Range
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*Fuyug language, Fuyug
*Tauade language, Tauade
*Northern (Kunimaipa): Biangai language, Biangai, Kunimaipa language, Kunimaipa, Weri language, Weri

The languages are clearly related, especially northern Biagai, Kunimaipa, and Weri, which might be considered divergent dialects.

Pronouns

Pronouns are:

*Northern: 1sg ''ne'', 2sg ''ni'', 3sg ''pi''
*Tauade language, Tauade/Fuyug language, Fuyug: 1sg ''na'', 2sg ''nu''

Tauade also has the possessive pronouns , .

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from SIL field notes (1973, 1975, 1980), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

:

Evolution

Fuyug language, Fuyuge reflexes of purported proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:

*''baba'' ‘father’ < *mbapa
*''sabe'' ‘saliva’ < *si(mb,p)at
*''magata'' ‘mouth, jaw’ < *maŋgat[a]
*''mele-pila'' ‘tongue’ < *mele-mbilaŋ
*''imu'' ‘eye’ < *(ŋg,k)amu
*''ije'' ‘tree’ < *inda

References

*

{{language families

Goilalan languages,
Binanderean–Goilalan languages
Languages of Central Province (Papua New Guinea)