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Mufian language

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Mufian
Southern Arapesh
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionBumbita-Muhian Rural LLG, East Sepik Province (36 villages)
Native speakers
(11,000 cited 1998)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3aoj
Glottologmufi1238
ELPMufian

Mufian (Muhian, Muhiang), or Southern Arapesh, is an Arapesh language (Torricelli) of Papua New Guinea. Dialects are Supari, Balif, Filifita (Ilahita), Iwam-Nagalemb, Nagipaem; Filifita speakers are half the population, at 6,000 in 1999.[1] It is spoken in 36 villages, most of which are located within Bumbita-Muhian Rural LLG, East Sepik Province. It is also spoken in Supari ward of Albiges-Mablep Rural LLG.[2][3]

Phonology

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Consonant Phonemes of Mufian[4]
Labial Alveolar Velar Glottal
plain labialized plain labialized
Nasal m n
Stop voiceless p t k kʷ ʔ ʔʷ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
Fricative f s h
Approximant w l

/ʔʷ/ is a coarticulated glottal stop with lip rounding that occurs only in final word positions.[5]: 311 

Vowel Phonemes of Mufian[4]
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e ə o
Low æ ɑ

Pronouns

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Southern Arapesh pronouns are:[5]

sg pl
1incl apə
1excl aeʔ afə
2 inəʔ ipə
3m ənən əmom
3f əkoʔʷ aowou

Noun classes

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There are 17 classes for count nouns in Mufian, plus two extra classes, i.e. proper names and place names. Noun classes are expressed in noun suffixes, adjective suffixes, and verb prefixes.

Although Southern Arapesh has more than a dozen noun classes, only four noun classes are determined by semantics, while the other noun classes are determined phonologically using the final root segment (a feature typical of the Lower Sepik languages). The four semantically determined noun classes are:[5]

  • class 16: male human referents
  • class 8: female human referents
  • class 5: human referents of unspecified sex (likely diminutive, since children are also included)
  • class 6: human referents of unspecified sex

The membership of the other twelve classes is determined phonologically, by the final segment of the root, as in the Lower Sepik languages.[5]

Some examples of Mufian noun classes from Alungum (1978):[6]

Class Form (sg.) Form (pl.) Gloss Sg. Noun Suffix Sg. Adjective Suffix Sg. Verb Prefix Pl. Noun Suffix Pl. Adjective Suffix Pl. Verb Prefix
Class 1 bol bongof pig -l -li l- -ngof -ngufi f-
Class 2 éngel angof name -ngél -ngili g- -ngof -ngufi f-
Class 3 nalof nalelef tooth -f -fi f- -lef -lefi f-
Class 4 lowaf lu'ongof clothes -f -fi f- -nguf -fi f-
Class 5 batéwin batéwis child -n -ni n- -s -si s-
Class 6 alupini alupisi friend -ni -ni n- -si -si s-
Class 7 nombat nombangw dog -t, -ta -tei t- -ngw -ngwi gw-
Class 8 nemata'w nematawa woman -'w -kwi kw- -wa -wei w-
Class 9 nam naep eye -m -mi m- -p -pi p-
Class 10 lawang lawah tree -g, -ga -gwei g- -h -ngéhi h-
Class 11 bemb bembeh betel nut -b -mbi b- -h -mbihi h-
Class 12 nongwatop nongwatoh knife -p -pi p- -h -hi h-
Class 13 wambel walemb village -mbel -mbili b- -lemb -lembi b-
Class 14 mai'una ma'unamb pigeon -a -ni n- -amb -mbi b-
Class 15 usin usimb crested pigeon -n -ni n- -b -mbi b-
Class 16 aman amam man -n -nei n- -m -mi m-
Class 17 kos kos course -s -si s- -s -si s-

There are a few irregularities in these noun classes.[6]

[edit]
  • Paradisec has a collection of materials with Don Laycock (DL1) that includes Mufian materials

References

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  1. ^ a b Mufian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
  3. ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  4. ^ a b Conrad, R. J. (May 1992). "Mufian Organised Phonology Data" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". 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. 197–432. doi:10.1515/9783110295252-003. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  6. ^ a b Alungum, J.; Conrad, R. J.; Lukas, J. (1978). "Some Muhiang Grammatical Notes" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016.
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