Molof_language
Molof language
Unclassified language of Indonesia
Molof (Ampas, Poule, Powle-Ma) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 200 people in Molof village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency.[1]
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)[2] tentatively considers it to be a language isolate, as does Foley (2018).[3] Usher (2020) tentatively suggests it may be a Pauwasi language.[4]
Molof has a small consonant inventory, but a large one for vowels.
Molof consonants, quoted by Foley (2018) from Donohue (n.d.):[3]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | labial | plain | labial | |||
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
Plosive | p | t | k | kʷ | ||
Fricative | f | fʷ | s | |||
Liquid | r | |||||
Semivowel | j | w |
Molof vowels (8 total), quoted by Foley (2018) from Donohue (n.d.):[3]
Basic vocabulary of Molof from Rumaropen (2005), quoted in Foley (2018):[5][3]
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),[6][7] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[8]
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 |
- Molof at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- Wichmann, Søren. 2013. A classification of Papuan languages Archived 2020-11-25 at the Wayback Machine. 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.
- Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 433–568. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- Rumaropen, Benny. 2005. Sociolinguistic Report of the Poulle Language of Molof and Waley Villages, Keeron District, Papua, Indonesia. Unpublished manuscript. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
- 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. doi:10.15144/PL-A28.47
- 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. doi:10.15144/PL-B31
- Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.