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Teberan
Dadibi–Folopa
Geographic distribution	Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Papuan Gulf? Teberan–Pawaian Teberan
Subdivisions	Dadibi Folopa (Podopa)
Language codes
Glottolog	tebe1251
Map: The Teberan languages of New Guinea   The Teberan languages   Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Uninhabited

The Teberan languages are a well established family of Papuan languages that Stephen Wurm (1975) grouped with the Pawaia language as a branch of the Trans–New Guinea phylum.

There are two Teberan languages, Dadibi and Folopa (Podopa). They are spoken in Southern Highlands Province and in adjoining provinces.

Classification

Malcolm Ross (2005) tentatively retains both Teberan and Pawaia within TNG, but sees no other connection between them. Noting insufficient evidence, Pawley and Hammarström (2018) tentatively leave Teberan as unclassified rather than as part of Trans-New Guinea.

Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for Teberan to be classified as part of Trans-New Guinea, though they do note the following lexical resemblances between the Teberan languages and proto-Trans-New Guinea.

Dadibi:

• ami ‘breast’ < *amu

Folopa:

• kabu ‘stone’ < *ka(mb,m)u
• kolemane ‘star’ < *kala(a,i)m ‘moon’
• kile ‘eye’ < *(ŋg,k)iti

According to Dryer (2022), based on a preliminary quantitative analysis of data from the ASJP database, Teberan is likely to be a subgroup of Trans–New Guinea.

Vocabulary comparison

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:

gloss	Proto-Dadibi-Folopa	Dadibi	Folopa
head	*tobo	tobo-lu	tobo
hair/feather	*nii	nisi	niki
ear/hear	*odzo	olo ~ odo-	woso 'hear'; woseni 'ear'
eye	*ge	ge-du	kele
nose	*gun…	guni	gunumu; kurumu
tongue	*kamina	hamina
bone	*dii	dili	diri
skin/bark	*wadz	wali	wase
breast	*ame	ame	ame
dog	*jwi	jowi ~ juwi	juwi
pig	*kibu	kibu	hupu
bird	*ba	ba	ba
egg/seed	*ge	ge	ke
tree/wood	*ni	ni	ni
woman/female	*so	so	so
sun/day	*sg	sogo	suka
water	*wẽi	wẽ	wẽi
fire/sun	*si	sia	si
path/door	*tũ	tũ	tũ ~ tu
eat/drink	*nV-		n-/nuku- (present)
one/another	*me	me	me

References

1. New Guinea World, Tua River
2. ^ 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.
3. Dryer, Matthew S. (2022). Trans-New Guinea IV.2: Evaluating Membership in Trans-New Guinea.
4. Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Dadibi–Folopa

• 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.

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Dadibi–Folopa

• Teberan languages
• Languages of Papua New Guinea
• Teberan–Pawaian languages