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The Manubaran languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken around Mount Brown in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.

Languages

The languages are Doromu and Maria, and are 63% lexically similar.

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:

*m	*n
*p	*t		*k	*ʔ
*b	*d		*g
	*s
*w	*ɾ	*j

Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.

Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as:

	sg	pl
1	*na	*na
2	*ja
3	*ina

Basic vocabulary

Usher (2020)

Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-Mount Brown and Proto-Doromu-Koki, as well as Proto-Gebi and Proto-Maria, by Usher (2020) are:

gloss	Proto-Mount Brown	Proto-Doromu-Koki	Proto-Gebi	Proto-Maria
head	*ada	*ada	ada	*ada
hair/feather(s)	*uea	*ueta	uweta	*ueʔa
ear	*anema	*anema	anema	*anema
eye	*ne	*ne	ne-una	neuna
nose	*uɾuma	*uɾuma	uruma	*uɾuma
tooth	*gade	*gade	gadi	*gade
tongue	*apie	*aɸie	api	*aɸie
blood	*daweʔa	*dawaʔa	dawa	*daweʔa
bone	*nena	*nena	nena	*nena
skin/bark	*ɾoʔo	*ɾoʔo	lo-o	*ɾoʔo
breast	*sisu	*sisu	sisu	*hihu
louse	*gue	*gue	gu-e	*gue
dog	*auna	*auna	auna	*auna
pig	*dona	*dona	dona	*dona
bird	*eɾena	*eɾena	eerma	*eɾena
egg	*unema	*unema	unema	*unema
tree	*jabo	*jabo	iabo	*jabo
man/husband	*amie	*amie	amie	*amie
woman/wife	*ɾema	*ɾema	lema
sun	*medaʔa	*medaʔa	meda	*medaʔa
moon	*ejoʔa	*ejoʔo	e-io	*ejoʔa
water/river	*koɾu	*koɾu	oru ≈ koro-	*ʔoɾu
fire	*ita	*ita	ita	*iha
stone	*waʔiga		waiga	*waʔiga
path	*ida	*ida	ida
name	*ɾoka	*ɾoka		*ɾoʔa
eat/drink	*iɾi-	*iɾi-		*iɾi-
one	*jokohi	*jokoi	jokio	*joʔohi
two	*ema	*ema	lema	*jema

Ross (2014)

The following basic vocabulary words of Proto-Manubaran and lower-level reconstructions by Malcolm Ross (2014) are from the Trans-New Guinea database:

gloss	Proto-Manubaran	Proto-Doromu	Proto-Maria
head	*ada	*ada	*ada
hair	*weʔia	*ue-ta	*ueʔa
ear	*ane-ma	*ane-ma	*ane-ma
eye	*ne(u)	*ne(-)	*ne-
nose	*uru-ma	*uru-ma	*uru-ma
tooth	*gade	*gade	*gade
tongue	*afie	*afie	*ahie
leg	*u-ka	*yu-ka	*nu-ʔa; *one-ʔa
louse	*gue	*gue	*gue
dog	*auna	*auna	*auna
pig	*Dona	*dona	*tona
bird	*erena	*erena	*erena
egg	*une-ma	*une-ma	*une-ma
blood		*tava	*tae(k,ʔ)a
bone	*nena	*nena	*nena
skin	*roʔ(o,a)	*ro(a)	*roʔ(o,a)
tree	*yabo	*yabo	*yabo
man	*amie	*amie	*amie
woman		*rema	*oue
sky	*gure	*gure	*gure
sun	*maida(ka)	*meida(ka)	*maidaʔa
moon	*e(y)oʔa; *mohe- (?)		*eoʔa
water	*koru	*koru	*ʔoru
fire	*ita	*ita	*ita
stone		*fore	*vaʔiga
name	*roka	*roka	*roʔa-ba
eat	*iri-	*iri	*iri-
one	*yokohi	*yokoima	*yoʔohi
two	*(ye)(ka)ma	*re-manu	*ye-ma

Evolution

Maria reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:

• ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
• baba(e) ‘father’ < *mbapa
• kuyau ‘cassowary’ < *ku(y)a
• ita(isa) ‘tree’ < *inda

References

1. New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
2. ^ New Guinea World, Mount Brown
3. Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Manubaran. TransNewGuinea.org.
4. Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Maria. TransNewGuinea.org.
5. Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Doromu. TransNewGuinea.org.
6. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
7. Pawley, Andrew; Hammarström, Harald (2018). "The Trans New Guinea family". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–196. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.

Further reading

• Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Manubaran. TransNewGuinea.org.
• Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Maria. TransNewGuinea.org.
• Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Doromu. TransNewGuinea.org.

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
• (ibid.) Proto–Mount Brown

• Manubaran languages
• Owen Stanley Range languages
• Languages of Central Province (Papua New Guinea)