Ata language

The Ata language, also known as Pele-Ata after its two dialects, or Wasi, is a Papuan language spoken on New Britain island, Papua New Guinea. It appears to be related to neighboring Anêm, and possibly also to Yélî Dnye in a proposed Yele-West New Britain family. There are about 2000 speakers.

Ata is spoken in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province, and in Talasea District, West New Britain Province.

According to Yanagida (2004), there are two dialects of Ata, a Lower dialect spoken in the lowlands and an Upper dialect spoken in the mountains. The Lower dialect is spoken in Bialla Rural LLG, West New Britain Province, while the Upper dialect is spoken mostly in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province:

Lower dialect (in Bialla Rural LLG, West New Britain Province):

• Kiava (Old Kiava) (5°25′50″S 151°02′49″E / 5.43047°S 151.047°E / -5.43047; 151.047 (Kiawa))
• Korovasi
• Malasi (5°27′56″S 150°58′41″E / 5.46557°S 150.978°E / -5.46557; 150.978 (Malasi))
• Milikina (Elobe) (5°34′06″S 150°53′31″E / 5.56842°S 150.892°E / -5.56842; 150.892 (Elobe))
• Mulusi
• Ole
• Sale (Gogosi) (5°31′43″S 150°57′47″E / 5.52855°S 150.963°E / -5.52855; 150.963 (Sale))
• Sege (5°31′47″S 150°55′23″E / 5.52977°S 150.923°E / -5.52977; 150.923 (Sege))
• Silanga [settlement] (5°33′16″S 150°50′56″E / 5.55438°S 150.849°E / -5.55438; 150.849 (Silanga Mission))

Upper dialect (in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province, unless noted otherwise):

• Sipa (Bauka), West New Britain (5°35′44″S 150°53′13″E / 5.59544°S 150.887°E / -5.59544; 150.887 (Sipa))
• Uasilau [settlement], West New Britain (5°34′58″S 150°53′02″E / 5.58284°S 150.884°E / -5.58284; 150.884 (Uasilau))
• Kaikou (5°39′08″S 150°59′32″E / 5.652238°S 150.992254°E / -5.652238; 150.992254 (Kaikou))
• Lavugi (5°38′28″S 150°58′03″E / 5.641182°S 150.967552°E / -5.641182; 150.967552 (Lavugi))
• Luge, West New Britain (5°33′45″S 150°51′04″E / 5.56239°S 150.851°E / -5.56239; 150.851 (Luge))
• Ti (5°38′41″S 151°00′01″E / 5.644822°S 151.000275°E / -5.644822; 151.000275 (Kukulu))
• Yauyau (5°37′38″S 150°57′35″E / 5.627284°S 150.959744°E / -5.627284; 150.959744 (Yauyau))
• Kukulu (5°38′41″S 151°00′01″E / 5.644822°S 151.000275°E / -5.644822; 151.000275 (Kukulu))

Both the lower and upper dialects are spoken in the settlement of Silanga.

There are some lexical differences between the dialects. Some examples are listed below.

Phonology of the Ata language:

/s/ is pronounced as alveolo-palatal [ɕ] before /i/, /x/ is voiced as [ɣ] when occurring intervocalically.

A word-initial /i/ is realized as a [j], and a word-initial /u/ becomes a [w] when preceding /o/ or /ɑ/.

Ata makes use of noun classes, some of which are:

• Class 1 nouns: stationary and function in a state of relative stagnancy
• Class 2 nouns: portable and function in a state of relative motion
• Class 3 nouns: relating to the body’s internal needs

Below are some Ata noun class paradigms, using the noun roots lavo’o ‘stone’ and lexe ‘song’ as examples:

Selected basic vocabulary items in Ata:

• East Papuan languages

• Hashimoto, Kazuo (2008), Ata-English Dictionary with English-Ata Finderlist, Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics