Madang languages

For the Madang dialect of Borneo, see Kenyah language.

Madang
Madang–Adelbert Range
Geographic distribution	Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Northeast New Guinea and/or Trans–New Guinea Madang – Upper Yuat Madang
Subdivisions	Southern Adelbert Range Rai Coast Croisilles Kalam Mabuso etc.
Language codes
Glottolog	mada1298
Map: The Madang languages of New Guinea   The Madang languages   Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Uninhabited

The Madang or Madang–Adelbert Range languages are a language family of Papua New Guinea. They were classified as a branch of Trans–New Guinea by Stephen Wurm, followed by Malcolm Ross. William A. Foley concurs that it is "highly likely" that the Madang languages are part of TNG, although the pronouns, the usual basis for classification in TNG, have been "replaced" in Madang. Timothy Usher finds that Madang is closest to the Upper Yuat River languages and other families to its west, but does not for now address whether this larger group forms part of the TNG family.

The family is named after Madang Province and the Adelbert Range.

History

Sidney Herbert Ray identified the Rai Coast family in 1919. In 1951 these were linked with the Mabuso languages by Arthur Capell to create his Madang family. John Z'graggen (1971, 1975) expanded Madang to languages of the Adelbert Range and renamed the family Madang–Adelbert Range, and Stephen Wurm (1975) adopted this as a branch of his Trans–New Guinea phylum. For the most part, Malcolm Ross's (2005) Madang family includes the same languages as Z'graggen Madang–Adelbert Range, but the internal classification is different in several respects, such as the dissolution of the Brahman branch.

Internal classification

The languages are as follows:

• Madang
  • Bargam (Mugil)
  • Central Madang
    • Croisilles (reduced, = Northern Adelbert Range)
    • Mabuso
    • Mindjim
    • Rai Coast (reduced; > South Madang)
    • Yamben
  • West Madang
    • Southern Adelbert Range (Sogeram and Tomul Rivers)
    • Kalam (Kaironk River)
  • East Madang
    • Wasembo
    • Yaganon

The time depth of Madang is comparable to that of Austronesian or Indo-European.

Pronouns

Ross (2000) reconstructed the pronouns as follows:

	sg	pl
1	*ya	*i
2	*na	*ni, *ta
3	*nu

These are not the common TNG pronouns. However, Ross postulates that the TNG dual suffixes *-le and *-t remain, and suggests that the TNG pronouns live on as Kalam verbal suffixes.

Evolution

See also: Kalam language § Evolution, and Apali language § Evolution

Madang family reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma:

Family-wide innovations

• pTNG *mbena ‘arm’ > proto-Madang *kambena (accretion of *ka-)
• pTNG *mb(i,u)t(i,u)C ‘fingernail’ > proto-Madang *timbi(n,t) (metathesis)
• pTNG *(n)ok ‘water’ replaced by proto-Madang *yaŋgu

Croisilles

Garuh language:

• muki ‘brain’ < *muku
• bi ‘guts’ < *simbi
• hap ‘cloud’ < *samb(V)
• balamu ‘firelight’ < *mbalaŋ
• wani ‘name’ < *[w]ani ‘who?’
• wus ‘wind, breeze’ < *kumbutu
• kalam ‘moon’ < *kala(a,i)m
• neg- ‘to watch’ < *nVŋg- ‘see, know’
• ma ‘taro’ < *mV
• ahi ‘sand’ < *sa(ŋg,k)asiŋ

Pay language:

• in- ‘sleep’ < *kin(i,u)-
• kawus ‘smoke’ < *kambu
• tawu-na ‘ashes’ < *sambu
• imun ‘hair’ < *sumu(n,t)
• ano ‘who’ < *[w]ani

Proto-Northern Adelbert:

• *waben ‘arm, hand’ < *mbena
• *bab ‘older brother’ < *[mb]amba
• *ked ‘blood’ < *ke(nj,s)a
• *gemaŋ ‘heart’ < *kamu
• *kumaŋ ‘neck, nape’ < *kuma(n, ŋ)
• *kasin ‘mosquito’ < *kasin
• *um- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• *in- ‘sleep’ < *kin(i,u)[m]-
• *ag- 'see' ‘know, hear, see’ < *nVŋg-
• *me (+verb) ‘NEG’ < *ma- (+verb)
• *yag ‘water’ < *ok[V]
• *tak ‘leaf’ < *sasak

Kalam

Kalam language (most closely related to the Rai Coast languages):

• meg ‘teeth’ < *maŋgat[a]
• md-magi ‘heart’ < *mundu-maŋgV
• mkem ‘cheek’ < *mVkVm ‘cheek, chin’
• sb ‘excrement, guts’ < *simbi
• muk ‘milk, sap, brain’ < *muku
• yman ‘louse’ < *iman
• yb ‘name’ < *imbi
• kdl ‘root’ < *kindil
• malaŋ ‘flame’ < *mbalaŋ
• melk ‘(fire or day)light’ < *(m,mb)elak
• kn- ‘to sleep, lie down’ < *kini(i,u)[m]-
• kum- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• md- < *mVna- ‘be, stay’
• nŋ-, ng- ‘perceive, know, see, hear, etc’ < *nVŋg-
• kawnan ‘shadow, spirit’ < *k(a,o)
• nan, takn ‘moon’ < *takVn[V]
• magi ‘round thing, egg, fruit, etc.’ < *maŋgV
• ami ‘mother’ < *am(a,i,u)
• b ‘man’ < *ambi
• bapi, -ap ‘father’ < *mbapa, *ap
• saŋ ‘women’s dancing song’ < *saŋ
• ma- ‘negator’ < *ma-
• an ‘who’ < *[w]ani

Rai Coast

Dumpu language:

• man- ‘be, stay’ < *mVna-
• mekh ‘teeth’ < *maŋgat[a]
• im ‘louse’ < *iman
• munu ‘heart’ < *mundun ‘inner organs’
• kum- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• kono ‘shadow’ < *k(a,o)nan
• kini- ‘sleep’ < *kin(i,u)[m]-
• ra- ‘take’ < *(nd,t)a-
• urau ‘long’ < *k(o,u)ti(mb,p)V
• gra ‘dry’ < *(ŋg,k)atata

Southern Adelbert

Sirva language:

• mun(zera) ‘be, stay’ < *mVna-
• kaja ‘blood’ < *kenja
• miku ‘brain’ < *muku
• simbil ‘guts’ < *simbi
• tipi ‘fingernail’ < *mb(i,)ut(i,u)C (metathesis)
• iːma ‘louse’ < *iman
• ibu ‘name’ < *imbi
• kanumbu ‘wind’ < *kumbutu
• mundu(ma) ‘nose’ < *mundu
• kaːsi ‘sand’ < *sa(ŋg,k)asiŋ
• apapara ‘butterfly’ < *apa(pa)ta
• kumu- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• ŋg- ‘see’ < *nVŋg-

Proto-language

The following selected reconstructions of Proto-Madang by Ross (2014) are from the Trans-New Guinea database. Proto-Trans–New Guinea reconstructions are from Andrew Pawley and Harald Hammarström (2018).

gloss	Proto-Madang	Proto-Trans–New Guinea
head	*gat(a,i)(m)	*kV(mb,p)utu; mVtVna
hair	*imunu	*(nd,s)umu(n,t)[V]; *iti
ear	*kaun(i)	*kand(i,e)k[V]
eye	*amu	*ŋg(a,u)mu; *(ŋg,k)iti-maŋgV; *nVpV
nose	*mutu(gu)	*mundu
tooth	*make	*titi
tongue	*mele	*me(l,n)e; *mbilaŋ
leg	*kani(n)	*k(a,o)nd(a,o)[C]; *kitu
louse	*[n]iman	*(n)iman
bird	*kVbara	*yaka[i]; *n[e]i
egg	*munaka	*mun(a,e,i)ka; *maŋgV
blood	*ka(d,r)a; *kara	*ke(nj,s)a
bone	*kwaten	*kondaC
skin	*ga(n,r)a	*(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu
breast	*amu(na)	*amu
tree	*tari	*inda
woman	*na-gali(k)	*panV
sky	*ku(m,b)ut	*kumut, *tumuk; *samb[V]
sun	*kamali	*kamali; *ketane
moon	*kalam; *takun	*kal(a,i)m; *takVn[V]
water	*yag(V)	*(n)ok[V]
fire	*k(a,e)dap	*k(a,o)nd(a,u)p; *inda; *kambu
stone	*namanu	*[na]muna; *kamb(a,u)na
name	*ibi; *wañim	*imbi; *wani
eat	*(n,ñ)a	*na-
one	*kati(ŋ,g)a
two	*arigita	*ta(l,t)(a,e)

References

• 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.
• Pawley, Ross, & Osmond, 2005. Papuan languages and the Trans New Guinea phylum. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 38–51.

CLDF Dataset

• Z'graggen, J A. (1980) A comparative word list of the Northern Adelbert Range Languages, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. (CLDF dataset on Zenodo doi:10.5281/zenodo.3537580)

External links

• ELAR archive of Documenting the Sogeram Language Family of Papua New Guinea