Sumuri or Sumeri (one of two Papuan languages also known as Tanah Merah) is a language spoken in Sumuri District, Teluk Bintuni Regency on the Bomberai Peninsula by about a thousand people.

Distribution In Sumuri District of Teluk Bintuni Regency, Sumuri people reside in Tofoi (district capital), Materabu Jaya, Forada, Agoda, Saengga, Tanah Merah Baru, Onar Lama, and Onar Baru villages.

Classification In the classifications of Malcolm Ross (2005) and Timothy Usher (2020), Sumeri forms an independent branch of the Trans–New Guinea family, but Palmer (2018) classifies it as a language isolate. It does not fit in with any of the established branches of TNG, but based on what little data there is, it would seem to be closest to either the Berau Gulf branches (i.e. South Bird's Head, West Bomberai etc.) or the Asmat–Mombum languages and their relatives further east.

Sumeri has previously been linked to the Mairasi languages, but those do not share the TNG pronouns of Sumeri. The Sumeri pronouns are:

{|class=wikitable ! !!sg!!pl |- !1ex |rowspan=2|na-fea||kiria |- !1in |kigokomaka |- !2 |ka-fea||ki-fia

There are no 3rd-person personal pronouns, only demonstratives. The pronouns appear to reflect pTNG *na 1sg, *ga 2sg, and *gi 2pl.

Vocabulary The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Tanah Merah |- | head || breŋka; kidaso |- | hair || nisa; nua |- | eye || ka-bita; ndou |- | tooth || eti; kioni |- | leg || kiwi; oto |- | louse || ia; miŋ |- | dog || ibe; yoku |- | pig || opo; tayna |- | bird || awə; finanaburu |- | egg || doŋ; no |- | blood || kinatera; sa |- | bone || naso; oro |- | skin || ele; katane |- | tree || o; ono; taya |- | man || do; maopa |- | sun || soniŋ; weti |- | water || bu; moda |- | fire || avonabe; siŋ |- | stone || kenade; oru |- | name || nigia; wado |- | eat || anine; taue |- | one || besika; naduma |- | two || bi; wanitabo

See also Mairasi languages

References

Notes

External links Tanahmerah (tcm) Swadesh List by The Rosetta Project at the Internet Archive