The Dani or Baliem Valley languages are a family of clearly related Trans–New Guinea languages spoken by the Dani and related peoples in the Baliem Valley in the Highland Papua, Indonesia. Foley (2003) considers their Trans–New Guinea language group status to be established. They may be most closely related to the languages of Paniai Lakes, but this is not yet clear. Capell (1962) posited that their closest relatives were the Kwerba languages, which Ross (2005) rejects.
Languages Larson (1977) divided the family into three branches based on lexicostatistics, and Nggem was later added as a fourth. The Ngalik languages are very poorly attested.
Dani family Wano Nggem Central Dani: Grand Valley Dani (upper, lower, and mid dialects) Hupla Western Dani–Walak Ngalik: Nduga Silimo Yali (dialect cluster)
Phonemes Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows. This is identical to the reconstruction of Bromley (from 1966–1967) apart from adding the rare consonants *pʷ and *mbʷ, and the possible additional vowel *ɐ.
+ Consonants Labial Alveolar Palatal VelarNasal *m *n Stop Voiceless *p *pʷ *t *k *kʷ Pre-nasalized *ᵐb *ᵐbʷ *ⁿd *ᵑg *ᵑgʷ Implosive *ɓ *ɗ Approximant *w *l *j
+Vowels Front Central BackClose*i *uNear-close*ɪ *ʊMid*e[*ɐ]*oOpen *a
And the diphthongs *ei, *ou, *ai, *au.
Pronouns Ross (1995) reconstructs the independent pronouns and possessive/object prefixes of Central Dani as:
{| class="wikitable" ! !!singular!!plural |- !1 |*an, *n[a]||*ni-t, *nin[a]- |- !2 |*ka-t, *k[a]||*ki-t, *kin[a]- |- !3 |*a-t, *∅/w-||*i-t, *in[a]-
Vocabulary comparison The following basic vocabulary words are from Bromley (1967) and Voorhoeve (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. nakapak, ogobak, nokopak for “nose”) or not (e.g. natði, nemake, nabilikagen for “tongue”).
gloss DaniLower Grand Valley (Hitigima dial.) DaniLower Grand Valley (Tangma dial.) DaniLower Grand Valley DaniMid Grand Valley DaniUpper Grand Valley DaniWestern Walak Silimo (South Ngalik dial.) Silimo YaliAngguruk YaliPass Valley head mʊkkʊl-oak mʊkkʊl-oak nukul-oaq nʊgʊl-oak nanupah aneb; anobak nalupak naŋgul nagʊl nʊgʊl hou hair nesi nesi nesi nesi neeti eeɾuwak; neti niti nenasu nasu notuk hoŋ ear nesakko nesakko nasuk natuk [nařuk] aɾuk natuk [nařuk] nesago nɪsago eye neil-ekken neil-ekken neil-eken nel-egen neneken enegen; negen nil nələŋgen nɪlegen nɪl həŋ nose nappisan namisaŋ nakouwak-oak nakapak ogobak nokopak nebijaŋ nabijaŋ tooth naik naik naik naik nɪk neik naik neniak nɪak; neak najek si tongue nameli namili na∂i namɪlɪ amela natði nemake nabilikagen leg nesoq iyok; owak yan saŋ louse napɪ napɪ navi napɪ napɪ abee napɪ nekepɪ; pɪ pɪ am dog jekke jekke yake jege gewo gewo; nggewo gewo yeŋge mene mene kam pig wam wam wam wam wa:n wam wam wam wam wam meya bird sʊe sʊe sue tʊe tewe tewe; towe tewe tuwe sʊe suwe winaŋ egg sʊe-kken sʊe-kken sue-ken tʊe-gen tewe-gen eko tewe-gen eŋgen sʊe-egen suwe-gen winaŋ won blood mep mep mep mep mep amiya; muya mep mep gete; mep iniŋ bone noak noak noaq noak nowakano owak nowak nʊak noak yok skin noat nakap naxap noatðo nakatlo agabelo nakatðo nakap nakap pok breast neilak neilak niðak nelak elak neðak nakamʊ nak tree o e e o ejo eyo o bene e e man ap ap ap ap ap ap ap ap nimnya woman he; hɪmɪ he; hʊmɪ he kwe kwe kwamɪ keap sky mbogut sun mo mo mo mʊlɪgɪ mo oonegen; yawo mo; o-il mo mo hin moon tuki tuki tʊt tʊt tut tʊt duki bikkalem water i i i i ji mio; nio; niyo i; ies ik ik tin fire hettouk ettu etu hɪdʊ [hɪtʊ] ɪdʊ [ɪndʊ] endo; kani idu enduk odʊk idok uk stone helep helep helep helegit [helekit] jʊkum yugum; yukum git [ŋgit] kəlip kelep kelep kirik road, path ke; kwe kwe holak-aðem tuwan tuwan epela pʊgalem name ettake ettake eraxe edaka [etaga] edaka [endaga] endage; etaxe edaka onuk unuk nimnya eat namen namen!; ne-; nengge nənəm- emen namɪn (ɪs ?) (kwaniŋ) etiŋ one makke-at; pakke-at oppakke-at opake-at bagɪ-at abɪ ambe; ambit omagi-at ambui mesik mɪsɪk sendeik two pete; pɪte p:ie pere bete [peře] bete [mbeře] bere; mbeɾe bete pere biten biten phenep
Evolution Dani reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:
Grand Valley Dani language: 'man' < 'tongue' < 'hair' < ( is 1sg possessor) 'come' < 'new' <
Western Dani language: 'man' < < 'tongue' < 'new' < 'leg' < 'skin' < 'tree' <
Ngalik language: 'tree' < 'breast' < 'full' < 'smoke' <
References