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Melpa language

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Trans–New Guinea language spoken in Papua New Guinea ‹ The template Infobox language is being considered for merging. ›
Melpa
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionMount Hagen District, Western Highlands Province
Native speakers(130,000 cited 1991)
Language familyTrans–New Guinea
Writing systemLatin
Language codes
ISO 639-3med
Glottologmelp1238

Melpa (Medlpa, Mbowamb) is a Papuan language spoken by about 130,000 people predominantly in Mount Hagen and the surrounding district of Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

Melpa is a Pandanus language used during karuka harvest. Melpa has a voiceless velar lateral fricative, written as a double-barred el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). Melpa is notable for its binary counting system. A dictionary of Melpa has been compiled by Stewart, Strathern and Trantow (2011).

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n̪ ⟨n⟩ n ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Stop voiceless p t̪ ⟨t⟩ t k
prenasalized ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ ⁿd̪ ⟨nd⟩ ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ ᵑɡ ⟨ng⟩
Rhotic r~ɾ ⟨r⟩
Lateral l̪d̪ ⟨ld⟩ l ʟ~𝼄 ⟨ⱡ⟩
Semivowel w j ⟨y⟩

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i ɨ ⟨ʉ⟩ u
Near-high ɪ ⟨i⟩ ʊ ⟨u⟩
Mid e o
Low a

Numeral system

Decimal Melpa Interpretation
1 tenda "one"
2 ragl "two"
3 ragltika "two-one"
4 tembokak "four"
5 pemp ti gul "one past four"
6 pemp ragl gul "two past four"
7 pemp ragltika gul "two-one past four"
8 engakl "eight"
9 pemp ti pip "one past eight"
10 pemp ragl pip "two past eight"

Melpa language in films

Temboka, a dialect of Melpa, is the native language of the Ganiga tribe, who featured prominently in the Highlands Trilogy of documentaries by Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly (First Contact, Joe Leahy's Neighbours, and Black Harvest).

The documentary Ongka's Big Moka also has Melpa dialogue.

References

  1. Melpa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Franklin, Karl J. (September 1972). "A Ritual Pandanus Language of New Guinea". Oceania. 43 (1): 66–76. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1972.tb01197.x. OCLC 883021898.
  3. Stewart, Pamela J., Andrew Strathern and Jürgen Trantow. 2011. Melpa-German-English Dictionary. Pittsburgh: University Library System.
  4. Connolly, Bob (14 February 2017). "Filmmaker Bob Connolly returns to PNG 25 years after 'Black Harvest'". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 25 January 2017.

External links

Languages of Papua New Guinea
Official languages
Major Indigenous
languages
Other Papuan
languages
Angan
Awin–Pa
Binanderean
Bosavi
Chimbu–Wahgi
New Ireland
Duna–Pogaya
East Kutubuan
East Strickland
Engan
Eleman
Ok–Oksapmin
Teberan
Tirio
Turama–Kikorian
Larger families
Sign languages
Chimbu–Wahgi languages
Jimi
Wahgi
Chimbu
Hagen
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