The Marind–Yaqai (Marind–Yakhai) languages are a well established language family of Papuan languages, spoken by the Marind-anim. They form part of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Stephen Wurm and Malcolm Ross, and were established as part of the Anim branch of TNG by Timothy Usher.
Languages The languages are:
Marind–Yaqai Marind
Warkay-Bipim Yaqay
Proto-language Phonemes Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:New Guinea World, Marind–Yakhai
| *m || *n || || |- | *p || *t || || *k |- | *b || *d || || *g |- | *mb || *nd || || *ŋg |- | || *s || || *h |- | *w || *ɾ || *j || *ɣ |} Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.
Pronouns The pronouns are:
! !!sg!!pl |- !1 |*nok|| ? |- !2 |*oɣ||*eoɣ |- !3m |*anep||rowspan=2|*anip |- !3f |*anup
Classification The Marind languages were partially identified by Sidney Herbert Ray and JHP Murray in 1918; the family was filled out by JHMC Boelaars in 1950. It was incorporated into Trans–New Guinea by Stephen Wurm in 1975.
The Boazi languages were formerly classified as Marind.
Evolution Marind reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma:
kase ‘saliva’ < pTNG *kasipa ‘spit’ maŋgat ‘mouth’ < *maŋgat[a] mudu-meŋ ‘belly’ < *mundu-maŋgV ‘heart’ mokom ‘fruit, seed’ < *maŋgV saŋga ‘hand, finger, arm’ < *sa(ŋg,k)(a,i)l ‘hand, claw’ sâ ‘sand’ < *sa(ŋg,k)asiŋ de ‘tree’ < *inda iwar ‘wind’ < *kumbutu kuyu ‘cassowary’ < *ku(y)a
See also Marind people
Further reading Drabbe, Petrus. 1950. Twee dialecten van de Awju-taal [Two dialects of the Awyu language]. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 106: 92–147. Drabbe, Petrus. 1954a. Comparative Vocabulary 100 words in 24 languages. Posieux/Fribourg: Instituut Anthropos. Drabbe, Petrus. 1954b. Talen en dialecten van zuid-west Nieuw-Guinea [Languages and Dialects of Southwest New Guinea]. Posieux/Fribourg: Instituut Anthropos. Drabbe, Petrus. 1955. Spraakkunst van het Marind: Zuidkust Nederlands Nieuw-Guinea [A Grammar of Marind: South Coast of New Guinea]. Wien-Mödling: Drukkerij van het Missiehuis St. Gabriël.
References
External links Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Marind–Yakhai