The Busa language, also known as Odiai (Uriai), is spoken in three hamlets of northwestern Papua New Guinea. There were 244 speakers at the time of the 2000 census. One of the hamlets where Busa is spoken is Busa () in Rawei ward, Green River Rural LLG, Sandaun Province.
Busa speakers are in extensive trade and cultural contact with Yadë, a distantly related language spoken in six villages to the north of the Busa area.
Classification Busa may be one of the Kwomtari languages. Foley (2018) classifies Busa as a language isolate (meaning unclassified), but does not exclude the possibility that it may have a distant relationship with the Torricelli languages.
Grammar
Affixes Busa subject agreement affixes are:
|+ Busa subject agreement affixes ! colspan="2" | Person!! Singular !! Plural |- ! colspan="2" | 1st | ma- || ma- |- ! colspan="2" | 2nd | a- || a- |- ! rowspan="2" | 3rd !masculine | _r_- || m- |- !feminine | _w_- ||
The Busa possessive suffix -ni is also found in proto-Sepik as the dative suffix *ni, as well as in Ama, a Left May language.
Personal pronouns The personal pronouns are:
|+ Busa basic pronouns ! colspan="2" | Person!! Singular !! Plural |- ! colspan="2" | 1st | mu || mi |- ! colspan="2" | 2nd | colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | am |- ! rowspan="2" | 3rd !masculine | a ~ ari || ti |- !feminine | tu
Basic vocabulary Busa basic vocabulary listed in Foley (2018):
|+ Busa basic vocabulary ! gloss !! Busa |- | ‘bad’ || buriambu |- | ‘bird’ || wana |- | ‘black’ || baro |- | ‘breast’ || nã |- | ‘ear’ || dina |- | ‘eye’ || dena |- | ‘fire’ || eβa |- | ‘leaf’ || iri |- | ‘liver’ || munã |- | ‘louse’ || amo |- | ‘man’ || nutu |- | ‘mother’ || mẽ |- | ‘nape’ || onaiba |- | ‘older brother’ || aba |- | ‘road’ || ti |- | ‘stone’ || bito |- | ‘tooth’ || wuti |- | ‘tree’ || nda |- | ‘water’ || ani |- | ‘woman’ || ele |- | ‘one’ || otutu |- | ‘two’ || tinana |- | ‘three’ || wunana |- | ‘four’ || aite |- | ‘five’ || yumnadi
The following basic vocabulary words are from Conrad and Dye (1975),Conrad, R. and Dye, W. "Some Language Relationships in the Upper Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea". In Conrad, R., Dye, W., Thomson, N. and Bruce Jr., L. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 18. A-40:1-36. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Busa |- | head || owuna |- | hair || etete |- | ear || dinʌ |- | eye || dena |- | nose || wʌti |- | tooth || wuti |- | tongue || dʌgʌrʌ |- | louse || amo |- | dog || inʌri |- | pig || waru |- | bird || wʌnʌ |- | egg || mʌiyʌ |- | blood || aɔ̨ |- | bone || ab̶uwibʌ |- | skin || tati |- | breast || ną |- | tree || nda |- | man || nutu |- | woman || tɔ |- | water || ani |- | stone || bitɔ |- | road, path || ti |- | eat || muniʌren |- | one || otutu |- | two || tinʌnʌ |} References
External links Odiai language word list at TransNewGuinea.org