The Mafulu: Mountain People of British New Guinea

Appendix V

Notes on the Papuan Languages spoken about the Head Waters of the St. Joseph River, Central Papua

By Sidney H. Ray, M.A.

The grammars and vocabularies collected by the Rev. Father Egedi, the Rev. E. P. Money and Dr. W. M. Strong illustrate the languages spoken in the higher hill country extending from the district about Mount Yule to Mount Albert Edward and the Upper Vanapa River. They form three distinct groups.

1. Fuyuge, comprising the dialects of Mafulu, Kambisa, Korona and Sikube.

2. Afoa or Ambo, including Tauata.

3. Kovio, including Oru Lopiko.

I. Classification.

1. Fuyuge:—The first specimen of any lanugage of the Fuyuge group was collected by the Rev. James Chalmers in 1879. This was called by him Kabana, and was printed in a collection of vocabularies in 1888.1 From a note on the original MS., the vocabulary was assumed to be the dialect of a village on Mount Victoria (called by Chalmers Mount Owen Stanley).2 But as Sir William MacGregor pointed out,3 there are no villages on that mountain, hence Chalmers, in assigning a locality to the vocabulary some time after its collection, must have been mistaken. The language of Chalmers’ Kabana is nearly the same as that of a vocabulary collected by Mr. A. Giulianetti at the village of Sikube in the Upper Vetapa or Vanapa valley, north of Mount Lilley. This was published in 1898.4

A few words from the village of Kambisa, in Sirima (Chirima) valley were published in the Annual Report on British New Guinea for 1905–6,5 and I have since been favoured by the compiler, the Rev. P. J. Money, with a fuller list. The Rev. Father Egedi published in 1907 a vocabulary of Fuyuge along with his account of the Tauata or Afoa tribe.6 Dr. Strong collected a vocabulary from the natives of Korona, a village situated close to the head of Galley Reach. This was collected with the help of a Motu-speaking native, and contains a few apparently Melanesian words. Dr. Strong was spontaneously told that these had been introduced from the coast in quite recent times. (Cf. § III.)

The words in the comparative vocabulary are taken from an extensive collection in Mafulu by the Rev. Father Egedi. They represent the same dialect as the Grammar in Appendix I.

That Mafulu, Kambisa, and Korona, with Sikube and Kabana, represent the same language is plain.

The Kabana pronoun nahu, I, the Sikube na(nio) I, nu(ni) thou, and the Kambisa na, I, nu, thou, hu, he, agree with the Fuyuge na, na(ni), I, nu, nu(ni) thou, u, he. The Kabana nauera, mine, is the Fuyuge naula. The Kambisa nara-ndo, mine, nura-ndo, thine, hura-ndo his, also show a suffix ndo corresponding to Mafulu ne in naula(ne), mine, nula(ne) thine, ula(ne) his, and in the vocabulary the Kambisa suffix nda corresponds to the Korona de in the word for “chest.” There is, however, no evidence that the Korona de is equivalent to the Mafulu ne. The word given in Sikube for “woman,” amuri, is the Fuyuge plural amuli, “women.”

A few other likenesses appear, as e.g., Kambisa suffix ng represents Mafulu me, ne; Kambisa fa, the Fuyuge ve; Kambisa a, Korona la, Mafulu le.

The following extract shows the likeness of the vocabulary.7

The numerals show similar agreements. These will be illustrated in the next section.

2. Afoa.—The Afoa vocabulary was collected by Dr. Strong in the villages on Mount Pitsoko from a Fuyuge native who spoke Afoa fluently. Dr. Strong also obtained a short vocabulary from a native who came from a village apparently on the slopes of Mount Davidson. The language is substantially the same as the Tauata or Tauatape of which Rev. Father Egedi has published a Vocabulary and Grammar.8 There are, however, a few slight differences which seem to confirm Father Egedi’s statement that there is probably a difference of pronunciation in the various Afoa villages.9 Father Egedi writes: p, v, k, t, l, ts where Dr. Strong has: b, w, g, d, r, t. The latter also has final i for e, ōā for a or o, ia for ea, u for oi ai for ei. Sometimes b represents m or v. Some of Dr. Strong’s words show marks of Afoa grammar, as, e.g., the words for eat, see, sit, give, head, husband or wife, mother, are: na nai, I eat; na nu kava, I thee see; na navi, I sit; nu inie, thou givest; ni adi, your head; omen iva, his wife or her husband; aumen ini, his mother. The Tauata words are added to the Afoa Vocabulary in square brackets.

3. Kovio.—The language called Kovio by Dr. Strong is substantially the same as the Oru Lopiko of Rev. Father Egedi.10 The same or a similar language is said to be found in four places, viz.—

1. Lopiko in the Inava valley.

2. Inavarene in the Inava valley.

3. Kwoifa district on upper Lakekamu River.

4. Villages round Pic Eleia.

Details of these dialects are not given.

II. Comparison.

The three groups of languages illustrated in these vocabularies present the usual Papuan characteristics of great differences. A certain amount of resemblance may be found in some of the pronouns, and possibly in a few other words, but generally speaking the languages are not only quite unconnected with each other, but are also distinct from the known Papuan languages surrounding them.

It is interesting here to note the agreement in the forms of the first and second persons singular, with a wide difference in the other pronouns. Similar words for these two pronouns occur in other Papuan languages as e.g., Kai (Finschhafen) no, Kelana Kai nai, “I,” and Bongu and Bogadjim (Astrolabe Bay), ni, Kelana Kai ne, “thou.”

The widespread use of a suffix, used when the pronoun is emphatic, is noteworthy. The possessive case also is formed as in some other Papuan languages by a suffix added to the root of the pronoun. Cf.—

Sometimes the simple form of the pronoun is prefixed to the noun in Tauata to indicate the possessive, as in Namau and Koita. Tauata na ate, Koita di omote, Namau, na uku, “my head.”

The numerals also show great differences. As far as “three” they appear as follows:

Some of these words have other meanings. Thus Fuyuge 2, gegeto is given also as “few.” In Tauata 1, kone duplicated as konekone is “few,” whilst onioni, means “alone.” In Oru Lopiko 1, konepu compares with onionipu, “few.”

These numerals are all different from Mailu, Koita, Binandele, Toaripi and Namau.

The vocabulary shows very few agreements, and there is very little evidence in support of a connection of any one of these dialects with its neighbours. The following correspondences may be purely accidental.

Bamboo. Afoa, ila; Namau, ina.

Banana. Korona, haba; Iworo, sabari.

Barter. Afoa, tavatava; Toaripi, tavatava.

Belly. Oru Lop., data; Sogeri, Koiari, detu.

Black. Fuyuge, dube, duba; Neneba, aduve; Koiari, Koita, dubu.

Blood. Fuyuge, tana; Koiari, Koita, tago.

Bone. Fuyuge, fude, &c.; Toaripi, uti.

Child. Fuyuge, me(le); Binandele, mai; Berepo, me.

    Fuyuge, isia; Kambisa, isa; Ubere, esi; Neneba, eche.

Coconut. Kambisa, bao; Koiari, bagha.

Crocodile. Fuyuge, fua, fuai; Koiari, fuie.

Dig. Fuyuge, etsia; Toaripi, isei.

Dog. Fuyuge, oi, ho; Agi, Ubere, o; Koiari, &c., to.

Eat, Drink. Fuyuge, na, nene; Namau, na.

Fire. Tauata, ena; Koiari, vene; Koita, veni.

Foot. Fuyuge, &c., soge, suga; Amara, joka.

Male. Tauata, mu; Toaripi, mo. Oru Lopiko, vitapu; Toaripi, vita.

Man. Fuyuge a(ne); Neneba, ana; Koiari, Koita, ata.

Mother. Oru Lopiko, Kovio, nei, Uberi, neia; Koita, neina; Tauata; ine; Koiari, ine.

Pig. Kambisa, sika; Musa River, siko.

Fuyuge, avo; Koiari, ofo; Koita, oho.

Rope. Fuyuge, konange; Gosisi, goda; Koiari, Koita,gote.

Salt. Fuyuge, ama(ne); Neneba, Iworo, amani.

Taro. Fuyuge, &c., munde, muda; Neneba, muda.

Tree. Fuyuge, i, iye; Kovio, ida; Koiari, Koita, idi.

Water. Fuyuge, &c., yu; Afoa, i(pe); Neneba, ei; Ubere, e.

Woman. Fuyuge, amu; Iworo, Neneba, amuro, wife.

III. Papuan and Melanesian.

Three Melanesian languages are spoken in the country around the lower courses of the St. Joseph and Aroa rivers, and are thus in immediate contact with the Papuan languages spoken about the upper waters. These Melanesian languages are the Mekeo, Kuni and Pokau. It is, therefore, of some importance to note whether any apparently non-Melanesian elements in these languages may be traced to the influence of the neighbouring Papuan tongues.

In Grammar the only non-Melanesian characteristic which appears is the preceding of the substantive by the genitive, but in the vocabularies a few correspondences are found.

But there are many apparently non-Melanesian words in Mekeo, Kuni and Pokau, which are different in each language, and cannot be traced to the neighbouring Papuan. The inference is that such words may be remnants of other Papuan tongues spoken in the St. Joseph and Aroa Basins, which have been absorbed by the immigrant Melanesian speech.

Only three Melanesian words in the list appear to have been adopted by the Papuans. These are: Tauata nau (pe), earthen dish, which is Kuni, Motu, Pokau, &c., nau; Fuyuge asi boat, Pokau and Motu asi; and Fuyuge bara, paddle, the Motu, Kabadi bara, Mekeo fanga, oar. The Fuyuge kokole fowl is also probably the Mekeo kokolo.

Plates