Wiru language
Wiru or Witu is the language spoken by the Wiru people of Ialibu-Pangia District of the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.
| Wiru | |
|---|---|
| Witu | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Ialibu-Pangia District, Southern Highlands Province |
| Ethnicity | Wiru |
Native speakers | (15,300 cited 1967, repeated 1981)[1] |
Papuan Gulf ?
| |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wiu |
| Glottolog | wiru1244[3] |
 Map: The Wiru language of New Guinea
The Wiru language
Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited | |
There are a considerable number of resemblances with the Engan languages, suggesting Wiru might be a member of that family, but language contact has not been ruled out as the reason. Usher classifies it with the Teberan languages.
Pronouns
Trans–New Guinea–like pronouns are no 1sg (< *na) and ki-wi 2pl, ki-ta 2du (< *ki).
Evolution
Wiru reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:[4]
- ibi(ni) ‘name’ < *imbi
- nomo ‘louse’ < *niman
- laga ‘ashes’ < *la(ŋg,k)a
- tokene ‘moon’ < *takVn[V]
- mane ‘instructions, incantations’ < *mana
- keda ‘heavy’ < *ke(nd,n)a
- mo- ‘negative prefix’ < *ma-
References
- Wiru at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- New Guinea World, Tua River
- Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Wiru". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- 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. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–196. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
Further reading
- "Outside and Inside Meanings: Non-Verbal and Verbal Modalities of Agonistic Communication the Wiru of Papua New Guinea" in Man and Culture in Oceania, Vol. 15
External links
- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Witu
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