Uhunduni languages

Uhunduni
Damal
Amung
RegionCentral Papua: central highlands, Paniai Regency, Beoga and Ilaga sub-districts; Asmat, Deiya, Mimika, and Puncak regencies, north and south Puncak Jaya; possibly Lanny Jaya and Nduga regencies.
EthnicityAmung people, Damal people
Native speakers
(14,000 cited 2000)
Trans–New Guinea
Language codes
ISO 639-3uhn
Glottologdama1272
ELPDamal
Map: The Amung language of New Guinea
  The Amung language
  Other Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Uninhabited

Uhunduni, also known as Damal (Damal-kal) and Amung (Amung-kal) after two of its dialects, is the language of the Amung people and Damal people. It is a Trans–New Guinea language that forms an independent branch of that family in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005). However, it is treated as an isolate by Palmer (2018). This language family is also called Ingkipilu in a classification by Anton Moeliono. The word Damal came from the Dani people, while Uhunduni came from the Moni people.

Dialects are Amongme, Amung, Damal, Enggipilu.

Classification

Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for Uhunduni to be classified as part of Trans-New Guinea, though they do note the following lexical resemblances between Uhunduni and proto-Trans-New Guinea.

Pronouns

Ross (2005) lists the pronouns as:

singulardualplural
1 nairuenoŋ
2 aerop
3 nanuŋ

Iru is an inclusive dual.

Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words of Damal (Uhunduni) are from the Trans-New Guinea database, citing Voorhoeve (1975).

glossDamal
headniŋok
hairniŋatok
eyenoŋop
toothnaik
legdok; nok
lousema
dogmitim
pigbow
birdelato; olem
eggolemagam
bloodnimang
bonedok; nok
skinnigip
treeem
manme
sunul
watero; uk; ut
fireka; kanelep
stonekela
namenem
eatnowin
oneamenkak
twoau; u

Literature

The New Testament in Damal was published in 1988.

References

  1. ↑ Uhunduni at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Palmer, Bill (2018). "Language families of the New Guinea Area". 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. 1–20. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. ↑ Budhisantoso, S.; Simanulang, Binsar; Guritno, Sri. "Masyarakat Terasing Amungme di Irian Jaya" (PDF). Kemdikbud. p. 31. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  6. ↑ Voorhoeve, C.L. 1975. Languages of Irian Jaya Checklist. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. doi:10.15144/PL-572. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.