The Mailuan or Cloudy Bay languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken around Cloudy Bay in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.
Languages The languages, which all share about half of their vocabulary, are, Domu, Binahari–Binahari-Ma, Morawa, Mailu (Magi), Laua
Bauwaki–O'oku is closely related to the Mailuan languages.
Classification Dutton (1971) said Bauwaki was a link to the Yareban languages. It has greater lexical similarity with Aneme Wake (Yareban) than the closest Mailuan language, Domu. Usher (2020) classifies Mailuan, Bauwaki and Yareban together.
Magi shows evidence of language shift from an Oceanic language in many Oceanic words.
Pronouns Usher (2020) reconstructs the proto-Mailuan–Yareban pronouns as:New Guinea World, Owen Stanley Range
! !!sg!!du!!pl |- !1excl |rowspan=2|*na || ||*ge |- !1incl |*gu||*i |- !2 |*ga|| ||*ja |- !3 |*e|| ||*ema
Ross (1995) reconstructs the Mailuan pronouns as:
! !!sg!!du!!pl |- !1 |*i||*gu-||*ge |- !2 |*ga||*[j]a||*[j]a, *mee |- !3 | ||*emu
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from Thomson (1975)Thomson, N.P. "The Dialects of Magi". In Conrad, R., Dye, W., Thomson, N. and Bruce Jr., L. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 18. A-40:37-90. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. and various SIL field notes, as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. kuma, uma, tuma for “louse”) or not (e.g. baka, ulim, muruu for “egg”).
gloss Bauwaki Binahari MailuSaville, W. J. V. 1912. A Grammar of the Mailu Language, Papua. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 42: 397-436. Mailu(Delebai d.) Mailu(Asiaoro d.) Mailu(Baibara d.) Mailu(Geagea d.) Mailu(Ilai d.) Mailu(Domara d.) Morawa head awara sol moru; uru moru moru moru ioru ilolo moru din hair i'iri git limuu ʔuru liʔimu limuʔu ʔuru liʔimu ʔuru bo ear ome ofi ope ʔope ʔope ʔope ʔope ʔope ʔope ope eye ni'aba ni ini ini ini ini ini ini ini nikaba nose iru lilim durumu durumu durumu durumu durumu durumu durumu dunun tooth ni'o maʔa gagina; maa maʔa maʔa maʔa maʔa maʔa maʔa ma'akisa tongue meana koba goba goba goba goba goba goba goba goba leg doboro aᵘ ʔau ʔau ʔau ʔau ʔau ʔau au louse kuma uma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma tuma dog wa'ai waʔaⁱ waai waʔai dari waʔai dari dari dari va'ai pig boro boro boraʔa boraʔa boraʔa boraʔa talae natu bird adau adaᵘ manu manu manu manu manu manu manu adau egg baka ulim muruu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu muruʔu unimi blood dana lala lala lala lala lala lala bone i sa gisa kisa kisa tara kisa kisa kisa iriga skin ofe ofi opi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ʔopi ubu breast ama ⁱama hama ama ama ama ama ama ama ama tree ana ʔana ana ana ana ana ana ana ana man eme ɛmɛkʰ egi egi egi egi egi egi egi emegi woman aveka aveha avesa avesa avesa avesa avesa avesa aveha sky nogara nogara nogara nogara nogara nogara nogara sun evaka budiwa nina nina nina nina nina nina rina moon manabe debaʔaʰ dovele dovele dovele dovele dovele deveni water ya'a yaʔah aʔaʔma; mami ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ʔaʔama ya'ama fire yo kɛu eu eu eu eu eu eu badau eu stone oma bagᵃ budi; nabua;gomagomana gomana gomana gomana gomana korau korao road, path da'aba legaʰ laea laea laea laea laea laea laea nara name ibi im omu omu omu omu omu omu omu eat isi kihi isiisi isiisi isiisi isiisi isiisi isiisi ʔiʔa isi one dim dai opmigau omu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu ʔomu obumiya two yara haᵘřa ava ʔava ʔava ʔava ʔava ʔava ʔava hauna
Additional word lists can be found in Ray (1938).Ray, Sidney H. 1938. The languages of the Eastern and South-Eastern Division of Papua. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 68: 153–208.
Evolution Mailuan reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:
Mailu language: ama ‘breast’ < *amu maa ‘mouth’ < *maŋgat[a] kisa ‘bone’ < *kondaC tupa ‘short’ < *tu(p,mb)a(C) guia ‘cassowary’ < *ku(y)a
Bauwaki language: baba ‘father’ < *mbapa idi ‘hair’ < *iti[C] (ine) ibi ‘name’ < *imbi iini- ‘sleep’ < *kin(i,u)-
References Bibliography
Notes