Sumuri language
| Sumuri | |
|---|---|
| Sumeri | |
| Tanah Merah | |
| Region | Sumuri District, Teluk Bintuni Regency, West Papua (Bapai Rover and Gondu River areas) |
| Ethnicity | Sumuri |
Native speakers | (500 cited 1978) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tcm |
| Glottolog | tana1288 |
| ELP | Tanahmerah |
 Map: The Sumeri language of New Guinea (located at left, in the Bird's Head)
The Sumeri language
Other Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited | |
Sumuri or Sumeri (one of two Papuan languages also known as Tanah Merah) is a language spoken in Sumuri District, Teluk Bintuni Regency on the Bomberai Peninsula by about a thousand people.
Distribution
In Sumuri District of Teluk Bintuni Regency, Sumuri people reside in Tofoi (district capital), Materabu Jaya, Forada, Agoda, Saengga, Tanah Merah Baru, Onar Lama, and Onar Baru villages.
Classification
In the classifications of Malcolm Ross (2005) and Timothy Usher (2020), Sumeri forms an independent branch of the Trans–New Guinea family, but Palmer (2018) classifies it as a language isolate. It does not fit in with any of the established branches of TNG, but based on what little data there is, it would seem to be closest to either the Berau Gulf branches (i.e. South Bird's Head, West Bomberai etc.) or the Asmat–Mombum languages and their relatives further east.
Sumeri has previously been linked to the Mairasi languages, but those do not share the TNG pronouns of Sumeri. The Sumeri pronouns are:
sg pl 1ex na-fea kiria 1in kigokomaka 2 ka-fea ki-fia
There are no 3rd-person personal pronouns, only demonstratives. The pronouns appear to reflect pTNG *na 1sg, *ga 2sg, and *gi 2pl.
Vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
gloss Tanah Merah head breŋka; kidaso hair nisa; nua eye ka-bita; ndou tooth eti; kioni leg kiwi; oto louse ia; miŋ dog ibe; yoku pig opo; tayna bird awə; finanaburu egg doŋ; no blood kinatera; sa bone naso; oro skin ele; katane tree o; ono; taya man do; maopa sun soniŋ; weti water bu; moda fire avonabe; siŋ stone kenade; oru name nigia; wado eat anine; taue one besika; naduma two bi; wanitabo