Finisterre
Geographic
distribution
Finisterre Range, New Guinea
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Subdivisions
  • Erap
  • Gusap–Mot
  • Uruwa
  • Wantoat
  • Warup
  • Yupna
Glottologfini1245

The Finisterre languages are a language family, spoken in the Finisterre Range of Papua New Guinea, classified within the original TransNew Guinea (TNG) proposal, and William A. Foley considers their TNG identity to be established. They share with the Huon languages a small closed class of verbs taking pronominal object prefixes some of which are cognate across both families (Suter 2012), strong morphological evidence that they are related.

The most populous Finisterre languages are Wantoat, Rawa, and Yopno, with about 10,000 speakers apiece, and Iyo, with about half that number.

Internal structure

Huon and Finisterre, and then the connection between them, were identified by Kenneth McElhanon (1967, 1970). They are clearly valid language families. Finisterre contains six clear branches. Beyond that, classification is based on lexicostatistics, which does not provide precise classification results. The outline below follows McElhanon and Carter et al. (2012).

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from McElhanon & Voorhoeve (1970)[1] and Retsema et al. (2009),[2] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[3]

Erap branch Gusap-Mot branch Uruwa branch Wantoat branch Warup branch Yupna branch
glossMungkipUri
(Sintogoro dialect)
IyoYau
(Mup dialect)
Tuma-Irumu
(Irumu dialect)
DegenanYopno
(Nokopo dialect)
head kʰigediminkembakuwitkʌyitʌnambusuŋʌ
hair sɨsa; sɪsasɨsɑhudzioŋpundzigɔtdaŋwai
ear maget; magitnɛmɑgiɔsumbiɔndɔmsukunnʌmkɔsim
eye dae; da·gedetɔŋidandapurdabəldaƀʌl
nose miminɛ; mimiŋgekininiʔumitanmainamitomoni
tooth mamitimanmenmɛngɛn
tongue mabɛm; mabimmɨmbɛmmipimotbinmɛmbermɛlɛmel
leg kadakʌjoŋ
louse mi; mīŋtumuŋimiimonimʌniməŋiat
dog sapkuɣɔŋisasapumʌtnoŋkwak
pig kare
bird jāŋjɑŋ
egg qiliq
blood we·qʌmɑ
bone kwadi; kwadzikʌti:wimbikuratkonzardoruk; ʌtʌtkataar
skin girimfugukowigibgup; kʌndʌpmeᵲ-gʌp; kandap
breast nomnʌmsusumumnonoŋmumnaŋ
tree bɛmfɨɾi
man ʌmiamnaamaamen
woman tamtɑminpareɔƀi
sun maim; malemɑjɛmokisasepkɔmiɔmdoran
moon jaʁipmɑjɛp
water ime; imɛɑmɑsonoyamoomeɩmkʌlap
fire kuduk; kugupkudipteibdikʌndʌpɛřapkandap
stone qawadegʷunʌgʌm
road, path tɛlɛ; tɛrɛpmēŋkʌdʌpʌŋoreamsapkandetmar̃ʌnkosit
name buŋām; wowwɔpowemanwopmaŋgimai
eat nʌnanenananana
one kubugaŋkubinik
two lifɛtfʌmɑʔ

References

  1. McElhanon, K.A. and Voorhoeve, C.L. The Trans-New Guinea Phylum: Explorations in deep-level genetic relationships. B-16, vi + 112 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1970. doi:10.15144/PL-B16
  2. Retsema, T., Potter, M., & Gray, R. 2009. Mungkip: An Endangered Language. SIL Electronic Survey Report 2009-015, November 2009.
  3. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.

Bibliography

  • 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.
  • Suter, Edgar (2012). Verbs with pronominal object prefixes in Finisterre-Huon languages. In: Harald Hammarström and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.). History, contact and classification of Papuan languages. [Special Issue 2012 of Language and Linguistics in Melanesia]. 23-58. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.
  • Claassen, Oren R. and Kenneth A. McElhanon. 1970. Languages of the Finisterre Range. Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 11, 45–78. Caberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  • Carter, John, Katie Carter, John Grummitt, Bonnie MacKenzie and Janell Masters. 2012. A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Mur Village Vernaculars. Dallas: SIL International. [Survey of Warup languages]
  • Smith, Geoffrey P. 1988. Morobe counting systems. Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 26, 1–132.
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