Binanderean languages

Binanderean
Geographic
distribution:		 New Guinea
Linguistic classification:

Trans–New Guinea

  • Binanderean
Subdivisions:
Glottolog: bina1276[1]

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Map: The Binanderean languages of New Guinea
  The Binanderean languages
  Other Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Uninhabited

The Binanderean languages are a family and part of the Trans–New Guinea languages (TNG) family in the classifications of Stephen Wurm (1975) and Malcolm Ross (2005). They are found along the north/east coast of the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea, and appear to be a recent expansion from the north. The Binandere family proper is clearly valid; Ross added the Guhu-Semane isolate based on pronominal evidence, and this has been confirmed by Smallhorn (2011). Proto-Binanderean has been reconstructed in Smallhorn (2011).

Classification

Smallhorn (2011:444) provides the following classification for Greater Binanderean. Individual languages are given in italics.

According to Smallhorn (2011), there are two linkages, namely Central Binanderean and Nuclear Binanderean. Ross (2005) reconstructs both independent pronouns and verbal person prefixes:

sg.PNprefix
1 *na*a-
2 *ni*i-
3 *nu*u-

Only 1sg continues the TNG set.

Demographics

Smallhorn (2011:3) provides population figures for the following Binanderean languages.

Total
about 80,000

References

  1. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Greater Binanderean". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  • 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. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
  • Smallhorn, Jacinta Mary. 2011. The Binanderean languages of Papua New Guinea: reconstruction and subgrouping. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

External links