Mek languages

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Mek
Goliath
Geographic distribution	Yahukimo and Pegunungan Bintang, Highland Papua
Ethnicity	Mek people and Yali people
Linguistic classification	Trans–New Guinea Central West New Guinea Momuna–Mek Mek
Language codes
Glottolog	mekk1240
Map: The Mek languages of New Guinea   The Mek languages   Other Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Uninhabited

The Mek languages are a well established family of Papuan languages spoken by the Mek people and Yali people. They form a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages (TNG) in the classifications of Stephen Wurm (1975) and of Malcolm Ross (2005).

Mek, then called Goliath, was identified by M. Bromley in 1967. It was placed in TNG by Wurm (1975).

Languages

The Mek languages form three dialect chains (Heeschen 1998):

• Eastern: Ketengban (including Okbap, Omban, Bime, Onya), Una (Goliath), Eipomek
• Northern: Kosarek Yale–Nipsan, Nalca
• Western: Korupun-Sela (including Dagi, Sisibna, Deibula)

Proto-language

Modern reflexes

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

Eipo language:

• mun ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
• kuna ‘shadow’ < *k(a,o)nan
• saŋ ‘dancing song’ < *saŋ
• getane ‘sun’ < *kVtane

Bime language:

• mundo ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’

Kosarek language:

• ami ‘louse’ < *niman
• si ‘tooth’ < *(s,t)i(s,t)i
• tomo < *k(i,u)tuma ‘night’

Yale language:

• de ‘to burn’ < *nj(a,e,i)
• mon ‘belly’ < *mundun ‘internal organs’
• xau ‘ashes’ < *kambu

Further reading

• Heeschen, Volker. 1978. The Mek languages of Irian Jaya with special reference to the Eipo language. Irian 7(2): 3–46.
• Heeschen, Volker. 1992. The position of the Mek languages of Irian Jaya among the Papuan languages: History, typology and speech. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 148(3/4): 465–488.

References

• 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.

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Momuna–Mek
• (ibid.) Proto–Mek