Maring, also known as Mareng or Yoadabe-Watoare, is a Trans–New Guinea language of the Chimbu–Wahgi branch. Speakers of the language can be found in the Bismarck range of the

Madang province Madang is a province of Papua New Guinea. The province is on the northern coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and has many of the country's highest peaks, active volcanoes and its biggest mix of languages. The capital is the town of Madang. D ...

or in the Hagen district of the

Western Highlands province Western Highlands is a province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Mount Hagen. The province covers an area of 4,299 km2, and there are 362,850 inhabitants (2011 census), making the Western Highlands the most densely populated pr ...

. Dialects of the Maring language are Central Maring, Eastern Maring, Timbunki, Tsuwenki, Karamba, and Kambegl. All Maring speakers can understand the Central Maring dialect.

Language status and development

According to EGIDS, the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, the Maring language is rated as a 5. This rating on EGIDS means that this language is still developing, meaning that the language is not sustainable but there is significant use of the language verbally and literately. According to AES, the Agglomerated Endangerment Status, the Maring language is considered as threatened. The development of the language is low. The literacy rate of native speakers is below 5%, while the rate of people who use Maring as a second language is below 5%.

Phonology

/w/ voiced labial-velar approximant /^mb/ voiced prenasalised bilabial plosive /ⁿd/ voiced prenasalised dental plosive /^ŋg/ voiced prenasalised velar plosive /n^j/ voiced palatalized dental affricate /ts^j/ voiceless palatalized dental affricate /ⁿdz^j/ voiced prenasalized dental affricate

Syllable patterns

The following are different patterns of consonants (C) and vowels (V) for syllables. Examples for each pattern show the Maring word with each syllable separated by a period. The example syllable pattern in the word will be in bold. The English translation of the word will follow in single quotation.

V

* a.sa 'sister' * ai.u.gui 'to close' * au.a 'different'

VV

* ae 'we two' * ai.re 'what, how'

VC

* am 'breast' * an.pek 'quickly' * ai.uk 'flat'

CV

* ma 'possum' * na.ko 'I' * ro.ba.da 'hot' * a.bo 'buttocks'

CVV

* moe 'yam type' * mai.wa 'very large' * jee.kai 'grub type'

CVC

* kong 'taro' * kam.gul 'thunder' * tu.wum.pai 'pandanus sp.' * a.bin 'your wife'

CVVC

* mieng 'tree sp.' * a.ruib 'taro type'

References

External links

* Materials on Maring are included in the open access

Arthur Capell Arthur Capell (28 March 1902 – 10 August 1986) was an Australian linguist, who made major contributions to the study of Australian languages, Austronesian languages and Papuan languages. Early life Capell was born in Newtown, New South Wale ...

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and Malcolm Ross
MR1
held by

Paradisec The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel- ...

. {{Chimbu–Wahgi languages Chimbu–Wahgi languages Languages of Western Highlands Province