Kwalean languages


The Kwalean or Humene–Uare languages are a small family of Trans-New Guinea languages spoken in the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans-New Guinea.
The Kwalean languages are spoken in Rigo District, Central Province, Papua New Guinea.

Languages

The languages are Humene, Uare and recently extinct Mulaha. It is not clear if Mulaha was an outlier, or as close to the others as they are to each other.

Classification

Humene and Uare are quite close, Mulaha more distant.
The Kwalean family is not accepted by Søren Wichmann, who splits it into two separate groups, namely Humene–Uare and Mulaha.

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher reconstructs the consonant inventory of Humene and Uare as follows:
The *k is rare.
Vowels are *i *e *ɛ *a *ɔ *o *u.

Pronouns

Usher reconstructs the pronouns of Humene–Uare as:

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher are:

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Dutton , as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database. Proto-Kwalean reconstructions are from Ross.
Note that the words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate or not.

Evolution

reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea etyma are:
  • maɣa ‘egg’ < *maŋgV
  • oda ‘leg’ < *kndok
  • nomone ‘louse’ < *niman
  • ire ‘tree’ < *inda