Mpur
Amberbaken
Native toIndonesia
RegionMpur and Amberbaken Districts, Tambrauw Regency on the north coast of the Bird's Head Peninsula
Native speakers
5,000 (2002)[1]
Dialects
  • Sirir
  • Ajiw
Language codes
ISO 639-3akc
Glottologmpur1239
ELPMpur
Approximate location where Mpur is spoken
Approximate location where Mpur is spoken
Mpur
Approximate location where Mpur is spoken
Approximate location where Mpur is spoken
Mpur
Coordinates: 0°45′S 133°10′E / 0.75°S 133.17°E / -0.75; 133.17

Mpur (also known as Amberbaken, Kebar, Ekware, and Dekwambre) is a language isolate spoken in and around Mpur and Amberbaken Districts in Tambrauw Regency of the Bird's Head Peninsula, New Guinea. It is not closely related to any other language, and though Ross (2005) tentatively assigned it to the West Papuan languages, based on similarities in pronouns, Palmer (2018), Ethnologue, and Glottolog list it as a language isolate.[2][3]

Locations

In Tambrauw Regency, ethnic Mpur people reside in Kebar District, Kebar Timur District, Manekar District, Amberbaken District, Mubrani District, and Senopi District. Villages include Akmuri, Nekori, Ibuanari, Atai, Anjai, Jandurau, Ajami, Inam, Senopi, Asiti, Wausin, and Afrawi.[4]

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in Mpur are:

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n
Stop voiceless p t k
voiced b d
Affricate t͡ʃ
Fricative ɸ s
Semivowel j w
  • /d/ is pronounced as [ɾ] when not in initial position or after /n/.
  • /n/ is pronounced as [ŋ] when preceding /k/.
  • /k/ is pronounced as [ɡ] when following /n/ which is pronounced as [ŋ].
  • /w/ can also be pronounced as [β].[5]

Vowels

Mpur has five vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/.

Tones

Mpur has a complex tonal system with 4 lexical tones and an additional contour tone, a compound of two of the lexical tones. Its tonal system is somewhat similar to the nearby Austronesian languages of Mor and Ma'ya.[6][7] The neighboring language isolate Abun is also tonal.[8]

Mpur has four lexical tones. There is also a fifth complex contour tone formed as a phonetic compound of two lexical tones. An example minimal set is given below.[8]

  • bé ‘but’ (high tone)
  • be ‘in’ (mid tone)
  • bè ‘fruit’ (low tone)

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Miedema & Welling (1985),[9] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[10]

glossMpur (Arfu dialect)Mpur (Kebar dialect)
head èbuamèbuam
hair byamburbuambor
eye éyamyam
tooth èbirbir
leg pirikèipèt
louse iːmèyim
dog p(y)èrpir
pig duaoduaw
bird iw (ip)if
egg buabua
blood éfarfar
bone éipip
skin (è)fièkfièk
tree perahuperau
man dèmonipmamir
sun putput
water warwar
fire yityèt
stone biːtbit
name mukemuk
eat èryètbarièt
one tutu
two dokirdukir

References

  1. ↑ "WALS Online -". wals.info. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
  2. ↑ Amberbaken at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018) Closed access icon
  3. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Mpur". Glottolog 4.3.
  4. ↑ Ronsumbre, Adolof (2020). Ensiklopedia Suku Bangsa di Provinsi Papua Barat. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kepel Press. ISBN 978-602-356-318-0.
  5. ↑ Odé, Cecilia (2002). A Sketch of Mpur. In Ger P. Reesink (ed.), Languages of the Eastern Bird's Head: Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 45–107.
  6. ↑ Muysken, Pieter (2008). From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 134. ISBN 9789027231000.
  7. ↑ Palmer, Bill (2018). "Language families of the New Guinea Area". 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. 1–20. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  8. 1 2 Holton, Gary; Klamer, Marian (2018). "The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird's Head". 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. 569–640. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  9. ↑ Miedema, J. and Welling, F.I. "Fieldnotes on languages and dialects in the Kebar district, Bird's Head, Irian Jaya". In Adams, K., Lauck, L., Miedema, J., Welling, F., Stokhof, W., Flassy, D., Oguri, H., Collier, K., Gregerson, K., Phinnemore, T., Scorza, D., Davies, J., Comrie, B. and Abbott, S. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 22. A-63:29-52. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985. doi:10.15144/PL-A63.29
  10. ↑ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.

Further reading

  • Odé, Cecilia (2002). "A Sketch of Mpur". In Ger P. Reesink (ed.). Languages of the Eastern Bird's Head. Pacific Linguistics. Vol. 524. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 45–107. doi:10.15144/PL-524. hdl:1885/146144. ISBN 9780858834941.
  • 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.
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