Dani languages

Dani
Ethnicity: Dani, Lani, Yali, etc
Geographic
distribution:		 Highlands of Irian Jaya
Linguistic classification:

Trans–New Guinea

Subdivisions:
  • Wano
  • Dani proper
  • ?Ngalik
Glottolog: dani1287[1]

The Dani languages are a family of clearly related Trans–New Guinea languages spoken by the Dani and related peoples in the highlands of Irian Jaya. Foley (2003) considers their TNG status to be established. They may be most closely related to the languages of Paniai Lakes, but this is not yet clear. Capell (1962) had posited that their closest relatives were the Kwerba languages, which Ross (2005) rejects.

Languages

Larson (1977) divided the family into three branches based on lexicostatistics, and Nggem was later added as a fourth. The Ngalik languages are very poorly attested.

The independent pronouns and possessive/object prefixes of Central Dani are:

sgpl
1 *an, *n[a]*ni-t, *nin[a]-
2 *ka-t, *k[a]*ki-t, *kin[a]-
3 *a-t, *∅/w-*i-t, *in[a]-

References

  1. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Dani". 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.