Mairasi languages

The Mairasi languages, also known as Etna Bay, are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher, that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They are named after Etna Bay, located in the southeastern corner of West Papua province, in Indonesia.

Languages The Mairasi languages are clearly related to each other.

Mairasi family: Semimi, Mer, Mairasi, Northeastern Mairasi

Classification Mairasi cannot be linked to other families by its pronouns. However, Voorhoeve (1975) links it to the Sumeri (Tanah Merah) language, either a language isolate or an independent branch of the Trans–New Guinea family.

Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for the Mairasi languages to be classified as part of Trans-New Guinea, though they do note the following lexical resemblance between Mairasi, Semimi, and proto-Trans-New Guinea.

Mairasi ooro and Semimi okoranda ‘leg’ < proto-Trans-New Guinea *k(a,o)nd(a,o)C ‘leg’

Phonemes Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:New Guinea World, Etna Bay

| *m || *n || || |- | *ɸ || *t || *s || *k |- | *mb || *nd || *ns || *ŋg |- | *w || *ɾ || *j ||

Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u. *ns is uncommon.

Pronouns Usher (2020) reconstructs the free and possessive pronouns as:

! !!sg!!pl |- !1excl |rowspan=2|*omo, *o- ||*eme, *e- |- !1incl |*e-tumakia, *e- |- !2 |*neme, *ne- ||*keme, *ke- |- !3 |*nani, *na- || ?

Basic vocabulary Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Proto-Etna Bay |- | hair/feather || *-suɾu |- | ear || *ɸiɾa |- | eye || *mbiatu |- | nose || *-mbi |- | tooth || *-ɾasi |- | tongue || *-saɸia |- | foot/leg || *-koɾa |- | blood || *iseɾe |- | bone || *tuɾa |- | skin/bark || *(na)-kia |- | breast || *joku |- | louse || *kumai |- | dog || *ansi |- | pig || *[ɸ]embe |- | bird || *sai |- | egg || *ete |- | man/male || *koɸo |- | woman || *eɸei |- | sun || *tende |- | moon || *aŋgane |- | water || *ɸat[e] |- | fire || *iɸoɾo |- | stone || *jaɸutu |- | path || *kae |- | name || *u[w]ata |- | one || *tana-(kau) |- | two || *amoi

Lexical comparisons Below is a basic vocabulary table of Mairasi languages (Mairasi, Mer, Semimi) with potential cognate matches, from Peckham (1991a,b), quoted in Foley (2018):Peckham, Lloyd. 1991a. Etna Bay survey report: Irian Jaya Bird’s Neck languages. Workpapers in Indonesian Languages and Cultures 10: 147–185.Peckham, Lloyd. 1991b. Mairasi phonology. Workpapers in Indonesian Languages and Cultures 10: 111–145.

|+ Mairasi family basic vocabulary ! gloss !! Mairasi !! Mer !! Semimi |- | ‘bird’ || sai || sai || sai |- | ‘blood’ || isere || isere || monad |- | ‘bone’ || natura || singgu || natura |- | ‘breast’ || jogu || jogu || jogu |- | ‘ear’ || navir anda || nevira || ot naviraThe exact phonetic values of <v> and <f> in Mer and Semimi are unknown. |- | ‘eat’ || neneman || namba || neneme |- | ‘egg’ || eːte || ede || anggu ete |- | ‘eye’ || nambutu || nembiatu || ombiatu |- | ‘fire’ || ivore || ivoro || iforo |- | ‘give’ || tomnaijan || nombonaiyomo || tomonai |- | ‘ground’ || wasasai || wasase || makoro |- | ‘hair’ || nasuru || nasuru || nasuru |- | ‘hear’ || ivjeme || iveme || iveme |- | ‘I’ || ʔomo || omo || omo |- | ‘leg’ || naʔor || nakora || okor anda |- | ‘louse’ || ʔumai || kumai || kumai |- | ‘man’ || tatʔovo || neum tato || tatokovo |- | ‘moon’ || unsir || anggane || anggane |- | ‘name’ || nggwata || wata || newata |- | ‘one’ || tanggau || nawaze || tanakau |- | ‘path, road’ || ʔae || kae || kai |- | ‘see’ || natom || daviomo || nondome |- | ‘stone’ || javutu || wavo || javutu |- | ‘sun’ || tende || ungguru || tende |- | ‘tongue’ || nasavia || nesavi || osavi |- | ‘tooth’ || narasi || nerasi || orasi |- | ‘tree’ || ʔiu || u || ʔu |- | ‘two’ || amoi || amoi || amoi |- | ‘water’ || fata || kai || fate |- | ‘we’ || eːme || edumaga || ʔeme |- | ‘woman’ || evei || waini || efei |- | ‘you (sg)’ || ʔeme || kene || keme

Usher's protoforms of the 20 most stable itemsHolman, Eric W., Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Viveka Velupillai, André Müller, Dik Bakker (2008). "Explorations in Automated Language Classification". Folia Linguistica, Vol. 42, no. 2, 331–354 in the Swadesh list include the following.

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Proto-Mairasi !! gloss |- | *kumai || louse

| *amoi || two

| *ɸat[e] || water

| *-ɸiɾa || ear

| ? || die

| *o-mo|| I

| ? || liver

| *-mbiatu || eye

| *-ɸaka || hand/arm

| *iɸi- || hear

| ? || tree

| *uɾatu || fish

| *u[w]ata || name

| *jaɸutu || stone

| *-ɾasi || tooth

| *joku || breast

| *ne-me || you

| *kae || path

| *-tuɾa || bone

| *-saɸia || tongue

Mairasi languages

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