Engan languages

Not to be confused with Angan languages.

The Engan, or more precisely Enga – Southern Highland, languages are a small family of Papuan languages of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The two branches of the family are rather distantly related, but were connected by Franklin and Voorhoeve (1973).^[1]

Engan
Enga – Southern Highlands
Geographic distribution	New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Northeast New Guinea and/or Trans–New Guinea? Engan
Subdivisions	North (Engan) South (Kewa–Huli)
Glottolog	enga1254
Map: The Engan languages of New Guinea   The Engan languages   Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Uninhabited

Name

The name "Engan" is often restricted to the northern branch of the family, to those languages transparently related to Enga, but also sometimes to the family as a whole.

Languages

The languages fall into three quite distinct branches: Engan proper, Huli, and Southern Highlands:

• North Engan (Engan proper): Enga–Kyaka–Lembena, Ipili, Bisorio (Nete, Iniai)
• South Engan (Kewa–Huli)
  • Huli
  • Southern Highlands: Angal (Mendi), Kewa; Samberigi (Sau)

Classification

The Engan family constitutes a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, but the evidence for this is weak.

There are a considerable number of resemblances with Wiru. Borrowing has not been ruled out as the reason for this, though the pronouns are similar as well.

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:^[2]

*m	*n
*p	*t		*k
*mb	*nd		*ŋg
*w	*l	*j

Vowels are *i *e *a *o *u.

Pronouns

Pronouns are easy to reconstruct for the northern and southern branches, but much more difficult for Engan as a whole. Ross (2005) has the following for the singular, Wiru has been added for comparison:

	pEngan	N Engan	S Engan	Wiru
1	**nə	*na-ba	*ní	no (gen. anu)
2	**ne-ke	*ne-ba	*ne-ke	ne (gen. ne-ke)
3	?	*ba	*[n]i-bu	one

Usher (2020) has not yet published reconstruction of Engan as a whole, but has done Engan proper:^[3]

Engan proper

	sg	du	pl
1	*na(-mba)	*nali(-mba)	*nani(-ma)
2	*ni(-mba)
3	*[e]-mba

Vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-Trans Enga (Proto-Engan) by Usher (2020) are:^[2]

gloss	Proto-Trans-Enga	Proto-Southern Highlands	Huli
name	*ŋge	*[i]mbi	mi-ni
fire/tree	*ita	*ti	iɾa
moon	*kana	*eke, *jumba	ege
four	*tumenda	*mala	ma-
path	*kaita	*pota	haɾiga
stand	*kata	*ka	ha
cassowary	*laima	*jati	jaɾi
skin	*jan[o/u]	*joŋgale	doŋgo-ne

Evolution

The Enga-Kewa-Huli reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma, if Engan languages are indeed members of the Trans-New Guinea family, are:^[4]

Enga:

• mona ‘heart’ < *mundun
• yaka ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
• lyaŋa ‘ashes’ < *la(ŋ,k)a
• ŋaŋa ‘baby < *ŋaŋ(a)
• (m)ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
• kuri ‘bone’ < *kondaC
• kare ‘ear’ < *kand(e,i)k(V]
• ne- ‘eat’ < *na
• apa(ne) ‘father’ < *apa
• iti ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
• endo ‘fire’ < *kend(o,u)p
• lema ‘louse’ < *niman
• kana ‘moon’ < *takVn[V]
• mana ‘instructions’ < *mana
• kitama ‘morning’ < *k(i,u)tuma
• kumi- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• re- ‘speak’ < *nde-
• maa ‘taro’ < *mV
• ita ‘tree’ < *inda

Huli:

• ega ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
• na- ‘eat’ < *na-
• aba ‘father’ < *apa
• iri ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
• ira ‘tree’ < *inda
• ma ‘taro’ < *mV

Kewa:

• ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
• ibi ‘name’ < *imbi
• iri ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
• uni ‘bone’ < *kwanjaC
• apu ‘tail’ < *a(mb,m)u
• lema ‘louse’ < *niman
• oma ‘die’ < *kumV-
• reka- ‘stand’ < *t(a,e)kV-
• la- ‘talk’ < *nde-
• maa ‘taro’ < *mV
• yaa ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)

Mendi:

• am ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
• ap ‘father’ < *apa
• mbi ‘name’ < *imbi
• ome- ‘die’ < *kumV-

Vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Enga and Kewa from William A. Foley (1986):^[5]

gloss	Enga	Kewa
‘two’	rama	laapo
‘man’	akari	ali
‘water’	ipa	ipa
‘fire’	ita	repona
‘tree’	ita	are
‘leaf’	yoko	yo
‘root’	pingi	pitaa
‘house’	ada	ada
‘breast’	adu	adu
‘tooth’	nege	agaa
‘bone’	kori	kuli
‘ear’	kare	kale
‘hair’	iti	iri
‘leg’	kape	aa
‘blood’	kupapu	kupaa
‘hand’	ruma	ki
‘egg’	kapa	yaa apaa
‘sun’	nita	nare
‘axe’	patama	rai
‘netbag’	nuu	nu
‘eat’	ne-	na-
‘die’	kumi-	koma-
‘say’	re-	la-
‘give’	mai-/gi-	gi-
‘big’	adake	adaa

References

1. Karl J. Franklin and C. L. Voorhoeve. 1973. Languages near the intersection of the Gulf, Southern Highlands and Western Districts. In Karl J. Franklin (ed.), The linguistic situation in the Gulf District and adjacent areas, Papua New Guinea, 149-186. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
2. . Archived from the original on 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
3. New Guinea World, Trans-Enga
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. Foley, William A. (1986). The Papuan Languages of New Guinea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28621-2.

• 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.

Further reading

• Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Engan. TransNewGuinea.org.

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Enga – Southern Highlands 2016-04-13 at the Wayback Machine
  • (ibid.) Trans-Enga