Engan languages

Not to be confused with Angan languages.
Engan
Enga–Kewa–Huli
Enga – Southern Highlands
Geographic
distribution		New Guinea
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea or Papuan Gulf?
Subdivisions
  • North (Engan)
  • South (Kewa–Huli)
Language codes
Glottologenga1254
Map: The Engan languages of New Guinea
  The Engan languages
  Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Uninhabited

The Engan languages, or more precisely Enga–Kewa–Huli or Enga – Southern Highland, are a small family of Papuan languages of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The two branches of the family are rather distantly related, but were connected by Franklin and Voorhoeve (1973).[1]

Name

The name "Engan" is often restricted to the northern branch of the family, to those languages transparently related to Enga, but also sometimes to the family as a whole.

Languages

The languages fall into three quite distinct branches: Engan proper, Huli, and Southern Highlands:

Classification

The Engan family constitutes a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Wurm and of Malcolm Ross, but the evidence for this is weak.

Usher links the Engan and Chimbu languages in a Central New Guinea Highlands family.[2]

There are a considerable number of resemblances with Wiru. Borrowing has not been ruled out as the reason for this, though the pronouns are similar as well.

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[3]

*m *n
*p *t *k
*mb *nd *ŋg
*w *l *j

Vowels are *i *e *a *o *u.

Pronouns

Pronouns are easy to reconstruct for the northern and southern branches, but much more difficult for Engan as a whole. Ross (2005) has the following for the singular, Wiru has been added for comparison:

pEngan N Engan S Engan Wiru
1 **nə *na-ba *ní no (gen. anu)
2 **ne-ke *ne-ba *ne-ke ne (gen. ne-ke)
3 ? *ba *[n]i-bu one

Usher (2020) has not yet published reconstruction of Engan as a whole, but has done Engan proper:[4]

Engan proper
sg du pl
1 *na(-mba) *nali(-mba) *nani(-ma)
2 *ni(-mba)
3 *[e]-mba

Vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-Trans Enga (Proto-Engan) by Usher (2020) are:[3]

gloss Proto-Trans-Enga Proto-Southern Highlands Huli
name *ŋge *[i]mbi mi-ni
fire/tree *ita *ti iɾa
moon *kana *eke, *jumba ege
four *tumenda *mala ma-
path *kaita *pota haɾiga
stand *kata *ka ha
cassowary *laima *jati jaɾi
skin *jan[o/u] *joŋgale doŋgo-ne

Modern reflexes

The Enga-Kewa-Huli reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma, if Engan languages are indeed members of the Trans-New Guinea family, are:[5]

Enga:

  • mona ‘heart’ < *mundun
  • yaka ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
  • lyaŋa ‘ashes’ < *la(ŋ,k)a
  • ŋaŋa ‘baby < *ŋaŋ(a)
  • (m)ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
  • kuri ‘bone’ < *kondaC
  • kare ‘ear’ < *kand(e,i)k(V]
  • ne- ‘eat’ < *na
  • apa(ne) ‘father’ < *apa
  • iti ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
  • endo ‘fire’ < *kend(o,u)p
  • lema ‘louse’ < *niman
  • kana ‘moon’ < *takVn[V]
  • mana ‘instructions’ < *mana
  • kitama ‘morning’ < *k(i,u)tuma
  • kumi- ‘die’ < *kumV-
  • re- ‘speak’ < *nde-
  • maa ‘taro’ < *mV
  • ita ‘tree’ < *inda

Huli:

  • ega ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
  • na- ‘eat’ < *na-
  • aba ‘father’ < *apa
  • iri ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
  • ira ‘tree’ < *inda
  • ma ‘taro’ < *mV

Kewa:

  • ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
  • ibi ‘name’ < *imbi
  • iri ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
  • uni ‘bone’ < *kwanjaC
  • apu ‘tail’ < *a(mb,m)u
  • lema ‘louse’ < *niman
  • oma ‘die’ < *kumV-
  • reka- ‘stand’ < *t(a,e)kV-
  • la- ‘talk’ < *nde-
  • maa ‘taro’ < *mV
  • yaa ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)

Mendi:

  • am ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
  • ap ‘father’ < *apa
  • mbi ‘name’ < *imbi
  • ome- ‘die’ < *kumV-

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Enga and Kewa from William A. Foley (1986). The pairs of words are not necessarily cognate.[6]

gloss Enga Kewa
‘two’ rama laapo
‘man’ akari ali
‘water’ ipa ipa
‘fire’ ita repona
‘tree’ ita are
‘leaf’ yoko yo
‘root’ pingi pitaa
‘house’ ada ada
‘breast’ adu adu
‘tooth’ nege agaa
‘bone’ kori kuli
‘ear’ kare kale
‘hair’ iti iri
‘leg’ kape aa
‘blood’ kupapu kupaa
‘hand’ ruma ki
‘egg’ kapa yaa apaa
‘sun’ nita nare
‘axe’ patama rai
‘netbag’ nuu nu
‘eat’ ne- na-
‘die’ kumi- koma-
‘say’ re- la-
‘give’ mai-/gi- gi-
‘big’ adake adaa

References

  1. ^ Karl J. Franklin and C. L. Voorhoeve. 1973. Languages near the intersection of the Gulf, Southern Highlands and Western Districts. In Karl J. Franklin (ed.), The linguistic situation in the Gulf District and adjacent areas, Papua New Guinea, 149-186. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ a b "Enga – Southern Highlands". New Guinea World. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  4. ^ New Guinea World, Trans-Enga
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Foley, William A. (1986). The Papuan Languages of New Guinea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28621-2.
  • 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.

Further reading