Eastern Trans-Fly languages
Encyclopedia
The Eastern Trans-Fly languages are a small independent family
of Papuan languages
in the classification of Malcolm Ross
, that constituted a branch of Stephen Wurm
's 1970 Trans-Fly
proposal, which he later incorporated into his 1975 expansion of the Trans–New Guinea family as part of a Trans-Fly – Bulaka River branch. Wurm himself concluded that some of the Trans-Fly languages were not Trans–New Guinea languages but rather heavily influenced by them. Ross (2005) removed the Eastern Trans-Fly and South-Central Papuan
languages from Wurm's family.
Eastern Trans-Fly includes Meriam
, located within the national borders of Australia
, as well as Bine, Wipii (Gidra) and Gizra.
There's a possibility of a connection here to Trans–New Guinea. If the inclusive pronoun is historically a second-person form, then there would appear to be i-ablaut for the plural: *ka~ki, **ma~mi, **tapa~tapi. This is similar to the ablaut reconstructed for TNG (*na~ni, *ga~gi). Although the pronouns themselves are dissimilar, ablaut is not likely to be borrowed.
On the other hand, there is some formal resemblance to Austronesian pronouns (*(a)ku I, *(ka)mu you, *kita we inc., *(ka)mi we exc., *ia he; some archeological, cultural and llinguistic evidence of Austronesian contact and settlement in the area exists.
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
of Papuan languages
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.-The...
in the classification of Malcolm Ross
Malcolm Ross
Malcolm David Ross is a linguist and professor at the Australian National University. He has published work on Austronesian and Papuan languages, historical linguistics, and language contact.-External links:**...
, that constituted a branch of Stephen Wurm
Stephen Wurm
Stephen Adolphe Wurm was a Hungarian-born Australian linguist.- Biography :Wurm was born in Budapest, the second child to the German-speaking Adolphe Wurm and Hungarian-speaking Anna Novroczky, and was christened Istvan Adolphe Wurm...
's 1970 Trans-Fly
Trans-Fly – Bulaka River
Trans-Fly – Bulaka River is a language family proposed by Stephen Wurm as part of his Trans–New Guinea phylum of Papuan languages. It was broken up by Malcolm Ross in his 2005 classification: three families remained in TNG, though not close to each other, while two were made independent families....
proposal, which he later incorporated into his 1975 expansion of the Trans–New Guinea family as part of a Trans-Fly – Bulaka River branch. Wurm himself concluded that some of the Trans-Fly languages were not Trans–New Guinea languages but rather heavily influenced by them. Ross (2005) removed the Eastern Trans-Fly and South-Central Papuan
South-Central Papuan languages
-Pronouns:The pronouns Ross reconstructs for the three families are,Proto–Morehead – Upper MaroProto-PahoturiProto–Bulaka River-References:...
languages from Wurm's family.
Eastern Trans-Fly includes Meriam
Meriam language
Meriam is the language of the people of Mer , Waier and Dauar, Erub and Ugar in the...
, located within the national borders of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, as well as Bine, Wipii (Gidra) and Gizra.
Pronouns
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto–Eastern Trans-Fly are,| I | *ka | exclusive we Clusivity In linguistics, clusivity is a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive "we" and exclusive "we"... |
*ki |
| inclusive we Clusivity In linguistics, clusivity is a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive "we" and exclusive "we"... |
*mi | ||
| thou | *ma | you | *we |
| he/she/it | *tabV Vowel In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some... ; e |
they | *tepi |
There's a possibility of a connection here to Trans–New Guinea. If the inclusive pronoun is historically a second-person form, then there would appear to be i-ablaut for the plural: *ka~ki, **ma~mi, **tapa~tapi. This is similar to the ablaut reconstructed for TNG (*na~ni, *ga~gi). Although the pronouns themselves are dissimilar, ablaut is not likely to be borrowed.
On the other hand, there is some formal resemblance to Austronesian pronouns (*(a)ku I, *(ka)mu you, *kita we inc., *(ka)mi we exc., *ia he; some archeological, cultural and llinguistic evidence of Austronesian contact and settlement in the area exists.