Molof language

Molof
Poule
RegionPapua: 9 villages located 100 km to the south of Jayapura; in Keerom Regency, Senggi District, Molof village
Native speakers
230 (2005)
Language codes
ISO 639-3msl
Glottologmolo1262
ELPPowle-Ma

Molof (Ampas, Poule, Powle-Ma) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 200 people in Molof village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency.

Classification

Wurm (1975) placed it as an independent branch of Trans–New Guinea, but Ross (2005) could not find enough evidence to classify it. Søren Wichmann (2018) tentatively considers it to be a language isolate, as does Foley (2018). Usher (2020) tentatively suggests it may be a Pauwasi language.

Phonology

Molof has a small consonant inventory, but a large one for vowels.

Molof consonants, quoted by Foley (2018) from Donohue (n.d.):

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
plainlabial plainlabial
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p t k kʷ
Fricative f fʷ s
Liquid r
Semivowel j w

Molof vowels (8 total), quoted by Foley (2018) from Donohue (n.d.):

Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Molof from Rumaropen (2005), quoted in Foley (2018):

Molof basic vocabulary
glossMolof
‘bird’au
‘blood’mɪt
‘bone’antai
‘breast’mu
‘ear’ou
‘eat’nɪ
‘egg’li
‘eye’lum
‘fire’tombe
‘give’tui
‘go’tuɨ
‘ground’aigiman
‘hair’era
‘hear’ar/arai
‘I’məik
‘leg’vu
‘louse’əlim
‘man’lomoa
‘moon’ar
‘name’ti
‘one’kwasekak
‘road, path’mɪtnine
‘see’lokea
‘sky’mejor
‘stone’rɨ
‘sun’neman
‘tongue’aifoma
‘tooth’tɨ
‘tree’war
‘two’atati
‘water’yat
‘we’ti
‘woman’anar
‘you (sg)’in

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

glossMolof
heademi
hairela
earou
eyelom
nosetoŋga
toothte
tongueai
legfu
louselem
birdau
eggle
bloodmat
boneantai
skinkant
breastmu
treewoar
manlomo
womananale
sunnei
moonar
waterjat; yat
firetombe
stonele
road, pathmef
nameti
eatne
onekwasekak
twoateti

References

  1. 1 2 Molof at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ Wichmann, Søren. 2013. A classification of Papuan languages Archived 2020-11-25 at the Wayback Machine. In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313-386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest New Guinea". 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. 433–568. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  4. ↑ New Guinea World
  5. ↑ Rumaropen, Benny. 2005. Sociolinguistic Report of the Poulle Language of Molof and Waley Villages, Keeron District, Papua, Indonesia. Unpublished manuscript. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
  6. ↑ Voorhoeve, C.L. "Miscellaneous Notes on Languages in West Irian, New Guinea". In Dutton, T., Voorhoeve, C. and Wurm, S.A. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 14. A-28:47-114. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971. doi:10.15144/PL-A28.47
  7. ↑ Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-B31
  8. ↑ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.