Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Kutubuan languages
Languages families in Papua New Guinea From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
The Kutubuan languages are a small family of neighboring languages families in Papua New Guinea. They are named after Lake Kutubu in Papua New Guinea.
![]() | This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}} or {{langx}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. (December 2021) |
Remove ads
Languages
There has been some debate over whether they are closer to each other than to other languages, but Usher includes them both in the Kikorian branch of the tentative Papuan Gulf stock. Within the two branches, the lexicostatistical figures are 60–70%. Between the two branches, they are 10–20%.
Lexical reconstruction
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[1]
Remove ads
Modern reflexes
Proposed Kutubu reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[2]
- gage- ‘carry on back’ < *kak(i,u)
- ku- ‘die’ < *kumV-
- na- ‘eat’ < *na-
- korage ‘leg’ < *k(a,o)ondok[V]
- gariko ‘neck’ < *k(a,e)(nd,t)ak
- ira ‘tree’ < *inda
- kuba ‘wind’ < *kumbutu
- ya ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
- babo ‘mother’s sister’ < *mbamba ‘older same sex sibling’
- ku- ‘die’ < *kumV-
- na- ‘eat’ < *na-
- reke- ‘stand’ < ta,e,i)k[V]
- ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
- apa ‘father’ < *apa
- himu ‘heart, stomach’ < *simb(i,u)
- iti ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
- korake ‘leg’ < *k(a,o)ndok[V]
- kinu ‘shoulder’ < *kinV
- kau ‘skin’ < *k(a,o)(nd,t)apu
- sikini ‘hand’ < *sa(ŋg,k)(a,i)l
- pisi ‘urine’ < *pisi
- mane(raka) ‘make the law’ < *mana ‘instructions’
- horop ‘long’ < *k(o,u)ti(mb,p)V
- api(a) ‘husband’ < *ambi ‘man’
- papa ‘mother’s sister’ < *mbamba ‘older same sex sibling’
- ira ‘tree’ < *inda
- sakipu ‘sand’ < *sa(ŋg,k)asiŋ
- kupa ‘wind’ < *kumbutu
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from Franklin (1975), Franklin & Voorhoeve (1973), McElhanon and Voorhoeve (1970), and Shaw (1986), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[3]
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. auřu, airu, alu for “tongue”) or not (e.g. weḷia, kakusa, yapi for “blood”).
Remove ads
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads