Mek languages

The Mek languages are a well established family of Papuan languages spoken by the Mek people and Yali people. They form a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages (TNG) in the classifications of Stephen Wurm (1975) and of Malcolm Ross (2005).

Mek
Goliath
Geographic distribution	Yahukimo and Pegunungan Bintang, Highland Papua
Ethnicity	Mek people and Yali people
Linguistic classification	Trans–New Guinea Central West New Guinea Momuna–Mek[1] Mek
Language codes
Glottolog	mekk1240
Map: The Mek languages of New Guinea   The Mek languages   Other Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Uninhabited

Mek, then called Goliath, was identified by M. Bromley in 1967. It was placed in TNG by Wurm (1975).

Languages

The Mek languages form three dialect chains (Heeschen 1998):

• Eastern: Ketengban (including Okbap, Omban, Bime, Onya), Una (Goliath), Eipomek
• Northern: Kosarek Yale–Nipsan, Nalca
• Western: Korupun-Sela (including Dagi, Sisibna, Deibula)

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant and vowel inventories as 'perhaps' as follows:^[2]

*m	*n		*ŋ
*p	*t		*k	*kʷ
*(m)b	*(n)d		*(ŋ)g	*(ŋ)gʷ
	*s
*w	*l	*j

i		u
e		o
ɛ		ɔ
	a	ɒ

ei	ou
ɛi	ɔu
ai	au
aɛ	aɔ

Pronouns

Pronouns are:^[2]

	sg	pl
1	*na	*nu[n]
2	*kan	*kun (?)
3	*ɛl	*tun, *[t/s]ig

The difference between the two 3pl forms is not known. 2pl and 3pl have parallels in Momuna /kun tun/.

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:^[2]

gloss	Proto-Mek	Proto-East Mek	Kimyal	Proto-Northwest Mek	Proto-Momuna-Mek	Momuna
hair/feather	*p[ɔ]t[ɔ]ŋ	*pɔtɔŋ	osoŋ	*hɔŋ
ear/twelve	*aᵓ		ɔ	*aᵓ
eye	*atiŋ	*asiŋ	isiŋ	*haⁱŋ	*ɒtig	ɒtù
tooth/sharp	*jo̝				*jo̝	jó
tongue	*se̝l[ija]mu	*[se̝]l[ija]mu	selamu	*se̝l[i]mu
foot/leg	*jan	*jan	jan	*jan	*j[a/ɒ]n
blood	*e̝ne̝ŋ	*ɪnɪŋ	eneŋ	*e̝ne̝ŋ	*jo̝ne̝g
bone	*jɔk	*jɔk	jw-aʔ	*jɔʔ[ɔ]
breast	*mɔᵘm	*mɔᵘm	moᵘm	*mɔᵘm	*mɔᵘm	mɒ̃ᵘ
louse	*ami	*ami	imi	*ami	*ami	ami
dog	*gam	*[k/g]am	gam	*gam	*gɒm	kɒ̀
pig	*be̝sam	*bɪsam		*bham		wɒ́
bird	*mak, *mag	*mak	-ma (?)	*-ma (?)	*mak	má
egg/fruit/seed	*do̝[k]	*dʊk	do	*do̝[k]		dɒko ~ dɒku
tree/wood	*gal		gal	*gal	*gɒl	kɒ̀
woman/wife	*ge̝l	*[k/g]ɪl	gel	*ge̝l
sun	*k[ɛ]t[e̝]ŋ	*k[ɛ]t[ɪ]ŋ	isiŋ	*he̝ŋ
moon	*wal	*wal	wal	*wal
water/river	*m[ɛ/a]g	*mɛk	mag	*m[ɛ/a]g
fire	*o̝ᵘg	*ʊᵘk	ug	*[u]g
stone	*gɛⁱl; *gidig	*[k/g]ɛⁱl	girig	*gidig		kè
path/way	*bi[t/s]ig	*bi[t/s]ik	bisig	*bhig
name	*si	*si	si	*si	*si	si
eat/drink	*de̝-(b)	*dɪ-(b)	de-	*de̝-(b)		de-
one	*[na]tɔn	*tɔn	nason	*nhɔn
two/ring finger	*b[e̝/ɛ]te̝ne̝	*b[ɪ/ɛ]tɪnɪ	besene	*bhe̝ne̝

Modern reflexes

Mek reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:^[3]

Eipo language:

• mun ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
• kuna ‘shadow’ < *k(a,o)nan
• saŋ ‘dancing song’ < *saŋ
• getane ‘sun’ < *kVtane

Bime language:

• mundo ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’

Kosarek language:

• ami ‘louse’ < *niman
• si ‘tooth’ < *(s,t)i(s,t)i
• tomo < *k(i,u)tuma ‘night’

Yale language:

• de ‘to burn’ < *nj(a,e,i)
• mon ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
• xau ‘ashes’ < *kambu

Further reading

• Heeschen, Volker. 1978. The Mek languages of Irian Jaya with special reference to the Eipo language. Irian 7(2): 3–46.
• Heeschen, Volker. 1992. The position of the Mek languages of Irian Jaya among the Papuan languages: History, typology and speech. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 148(3/4): 465–488.