Melpa language

Last updated
Melpa
Native to Papua New Guinea
Region Mount Hagen District, Western Highlands Province
Native speakers
(130,000 cited 1991) [1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 med
Glottolog melp1238

Melpa (also written Medlpa) 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.

Contents

Melpa is a Pandanus language used during karuka harvest. [2] 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). [3]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n n ŋ ng
Stop voiceless p t t k
prenasalized ᵐb mb ⁿd̪ nd ⁿd nd ᵑɡ ng
Rhotic r ~ ɾ r
Lateral l̪d̪ ld l ʟ ~ 𝼄
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

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

Melpa language in films

Temboka, a dialect of Melpa, is the native language of the Ganiga tribe, [4] 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.

Related Research Articles

<i>Pandanus</i> Genus of palm-like monocot trees and shrubs

Pandanus is a genus of monocots with some 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.

Kobon is a language of Papua New Guinea. It has somewhere around 90–120 verbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Highlands Province</span> Place in Papua New Guinea

Southern Highlands is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its provincial capital is the town of Mendi. According to Papua New Guinea's national 2011 census, the total population of Southern Highlands is 515,511 spread across 15,089 square kilometers (5,826 sq mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huli language</span> Tari language spoken in Papua New Guinea

Huli is a Tari language spoken by the Huli people of the Hela Province of Papua New Guinea. It has a pentadecimal (base-15) numeral system: ngui means 15, ngui ki means 15×2 = 30, and ngui ngui means 15×15 = 225.

Kaugel (Gawigl) is one of the languages spoken in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea. Native speakers call the area on the Southern Highlands side of the Kaugel River from the Western Highlands province home.

The squirrel-toothed rat, also known as the New Guinea giant rat, powerful-toothed rat, uneven-toothed rat, or narrow-toothed giant rat, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is the only species in the genus Anisomys and is found in New Guinea.

The eastern white-eared giant rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Papua New Guinea.

Rothschild's woolly rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found on the island of New Guinea: both in the West Papua region of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

The giant naked-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It lives in tropical forests, wetlands, and in degraded forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimbu–Wahgi languages</span> Language family

The Chimbu–Wahgi languages are a language family sometimes included in the Trans–New Guinea proposal.

The Wiru are a people of the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. They speak the Wiru language. Among their rituals is the production of timbuwarra out of rattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiru language</span> Language spoken in Papua New Guinea

Wiru or Witu is the language spoken by the Wiru people of Ialibu-Pangia District of the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. The language has been described by Harland Kerr, a missionary who lived in the Wiru community for many years. Kerr's work with the community produced a Wiru Bible translation and several unpublished dictionary manuscripts, as well as Kerr's Master's thesis on the structure of Wiru verbs.

Wahgi is a Trans–New Guinea language of the Chimbu–Wahgi branch spoken by approximately 100,000 people in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Like other Chimbu languages, Wahgi has some unusual lateral consonants.

Angal, or Mendi, is an Engan language complex of the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea.

Kewa is an Engan language complex of the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea. A dictionary of the western dialect of Kewa has been compiled by Franklin & Franklin (1978).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Connolly</span> Australian film director, cinematographer and author

Bob Connolly is an Australian film director, cinematographer and author. He is best known for his documentaries produced over the past 30 years, including The Highlands Trilogy and Rats in the Ranks. More recent films include Facing the Music (2001) and Mrs Carey's Concert (2011). His films have won an Academy Award nomination, AFI Awards, and Grand Prix at the Cinéma du Réel Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pandanus language</span> Special language used in Papua New Guinea

A pandanus language is an elaborate avoidance language among several of the peoples of the eastern New Guinea Highlands, used when collecting Pandanus nuts.

Black Harvest is a 1992 Australian-Papua New Guinea documentary directed by Australians Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson. It is the third film in 'The Highlands Trilogy', concluding the series which includes the 1983 film First Contact and the 1989 film Joe Leahy's Neighbours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karuka</span> Species of tree in the family Pandanaceae and regional food crop

The karuka is a species of tree in the screwpine family (Pandanaceae) and an important regional food crop in New Guinea. The nuts are more nutritious than coconuts, and are so popular that villagers in the highlands will move their entire households closer to trees for the harvest season.

Andrew Jamieson Strathern is a British anthropologist.

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.