Molof (Ampas, Poule, Powle-Ma) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 200 people in Molof village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency.
Classification Wurm (1975) placed it as an independent branch of Trans–New Guinea, but Ross (2005) could not find enough evidence to classify it. Søren Wichmann (2018)Wichmann, Søren. 2013. A classification of Papuan languages . In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313-386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea. tentatively considers it to be a language isolate, as does Foley (2018). Usher (2020) tentatively suggests it may be a Pauwasi language.New Guinea World
Phonology Molof has a small consonant inventory, but a large one for vowels.
Molof consonants, quoted by Foley (2018) from Donohue (n.d.):
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Nasal Plosive Fricative Liquid Semivowel
Molof vowels (8 total), quoted by Foley (2018) from Donohue (n.d.):
Front Central Back Close Close-mid Open-mid Open
Basic vocabulary Basic vocabulary of Molof from Rumaropen (2005), quoted in Foley (2018):Rumaropen, Benny. 2005. Sociolinguistic Report of the Poulle Language of Molof and Waley Villages, Keeron District, Papua, Indonesia. Unpublished manuscript. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
|+ Molof basic vocabulary ! gloss !! Molof |- | ‘bird’ || au |- | ‘blood’ || mɪt |- | ‘bone’ || antai |- | ‘breast’ || mu |- | ‘ear’ || ou |- | ‘eat’ || nɪ |- | ‘egg’ || li |- | ‘eye’ || lum |- | ‘fire’ || tombe |- | ‘give’ || tui |- | ‘go’ || tuɨ |- | ‘ground’ || aigiman |- | ‘hair’ || era |- | ‘hear’ || ar/arai |- | ‘I’ || məik |- | ‘leg’ || vu |- | ‘louse’ || əlim |- | ‘man’ || lomoa |- | ‘moon’ || ar |- | ‘name’ || ti |- | ‘one’ || kwasekak |- | ‘road, path’ || mɪtnine |- | ‘see’ || lokea |- | ‘sky’ || mejor |- | ‘stone’ || rɨ |- | ‘sun’ || neman |- | ‘tongue’ || aifoma |- | ‘tooth’ || tɨ |- | ‘tree’ || war |- | ‘two’ || atati |- | ‘water’ || yat |- | ‘we’ || ti |- | ‘woman’ || anar |- | ‘you (sg)’ || in
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975),Voorhoeve, C.L. "Miscellaneous Notes on Languages in West Irian, New Guinea". In Dutton, T., Voorhoeve, C. and Wurm, S.A. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 14. A-28:47-114. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971. 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 !! Molof |- | head || emi |- | hair || ela |- | ear || ou |- | eye || lom |- | nose || toŋga |- | tooth || te |- | tongue || ai |- | leg || fu |- | louse || lem |- | bird || au |- | egg || le |- | blood || mat |- | bone || antai |- | skin || kant |- | breast || mu |- | tree || woar |- | man || lomo |- | woman || anale |- | sun || nei |- | moon || ar |- | water || jat; yat |- | fire || tombe |- | stone || le |- | road, path || mef |- | name || ti |- | eat || ne |- | one || kwasekak |- | two || ateti
References
External links
Molof word list at TransNewGuinea.org