Senagi languages
Encyclopedia
The Senagi languages are a small independent family
of Papuan languages
in the classification of Malcolm Ross
, that had been part of Stephen Wurm
's Trans–New Guinea proposal.
The Angor language is unusual in that it distinguishes gender in the second- and third-person dual
and plural (you and they), but not in the singular. It is not clear if Dera does the same.
The most promising external links are with the Sepik
and Torricelli
languages. The pronoun for "I" is reconstructed as *wan for both proto-Senagi and proto-Sepik, while the Angor masculine dual and plural pronominal suffixes -fa- and -mu- appear to reflect the proto-Sepik and proto-Torricelli dual and plural pronominal suffixes *-p and *-m.
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 had been part 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 Trans–New Guinea proposal.
The Angor language is unusual in that it distinguishes gender in the second- and third-person dual
Dual
Dual may refer to:* Dual , a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another** Dual , a formalization of mathematical duality** . . ...
and plural (you and they), but not in the singular. It is not clear if Dera does the same.
Classification
The Senagi family consists of only two languages:- Senagi family: AngorAngor languageAngor Senagi is a Senagi language of Papua New Guinea....
, DeraDera languageDera Mangguar and Kamberataro is a Senagi language of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia....
The most promising external links are with the Sepik
Sepik languages
-Pronouns:The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Sepik are:Note the similarities of the dual and plural suffixes with those of the Torricelli languages.-See also:*Papuan languages*Sepik–Ramu languages*Donald Laycock...
and Torricelli
Torricelli languages
The Torricelli languages are a language family of about fifty languages of the northern Papua New Guinea coast, spoken by only about 80,000 people. Named after Torricelli Mountains. The most populous and best known Torricelli languages are the Arapesh, with about 30,000 speakers.The most promising...
languages. The pronoun for "I" is reconstructed as *wan for both proto-Senagi and proto-Sepik, while the Angor masculine dual and plural pronominal suffixes -fa- and -mu- appear to reflect the proto-Sepik and proto-Torricelli dual and plural pronominal suffixes *-p and *-m.