Pele-Ata_language
Ata language
Papuan language spoken on New Britain island
The Ata language, also known as Pele-Ata after its two dialects, or Wasi, is a Papuan language spoken on New Britain island, Papua New Guinea. It appears to be related to neighboring Anêm, and possibly also to Yélî Dnye in a proposed Yele-West New Britain family. There are about 2000 speakers.
Ata | |
---|---|
Pele-Ata | |
Native to | Papua New Guinea |
Region | New Britain |
Native speakers | 2,000 (2007)[1] |
West New Britain
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ata |
Glottolog | pele1245 |
ELP | Pele-Ata |
Download coordinates as:
Ata is spoken in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province, and in Talasea District, West New Britain Province.[2]
According to Yanagida (2004), there are two dialects of Ata, a Lower dialect spoken in the lowlands and an Upper dialect spoken in the mountains.[3] The Lower dialect is spoken in Bialla Rural LLG, West New Britain Province, while the Upper dialect is spoken mostly in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province:[4]
Lower dialect (in Bialla Rural LLG, West New Britain Province):
- Kiava (Old Kiava) (5.43047°S 151.047°E / -5.43047; 151.047 (Kiawa))
- Korovasi
- Malasi (5.46557°S 150.978°E / -5.46557; 150.978 (Malasi))
- Milikina (Elobe) (5.56842°S 150.892°E / -5.56842; 150.892 (Elobe))
- Mulusi
- Ole
- Sale (Gogosi) (5.52855°S 150.963°E / -5.52855; 150.963 (Sale))
- Sege (5.52977°S 150.923°E / -5.52977; 150.923 (Sege))
- Silanga [settlement] (5.55438°S 150.849°E / -5.55438; 150.849 (Silanga Mission))
Upper dialect (in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province, unless noted otherwise):
- Sipa (Bauka), West New Britain (5.59544°S 150.887°E / -5.59544; 150.887 (Sipa))
- Uasilau [settlement], West New Britain (5.58284°S 150.884°E / -5.58284; 150.884 (Uasilau))
- Kaikou (5.652238°S 150.992254°E / -5.652238; 150.992254 (Kaikou))
- Lavugi (5.641182°S 150.967552°E / -5.641182; 150.967552 (Lavugi))
- Luge, West New Britain (5.56239°S 150.851°E / -5.56239; 150.851 (Luge))
- Ti (5.644822°S 151.000275°E / -5.644822; 151.000275 (Kukulu))
- Yauyau (5.627284°S 150.959744°E / -5.627284; 150.959744 (Yauyau))
- Kukulu (5.644822°S 151.000275°E / -5.644822; 151.000275 (Kukulu))
Both the lower and upper dialects are spoken in the settlement of Silanga.
There are some lexical differences between the dialects. Some examples are listed below.[3]: 71
gloss | Upper Ata | Lower Ata |
---|---|---|
rain | uali | laʔiua |
sweet potato | totoʔo | kelatu |
cassava | mio | mio, mioxa |
throw something | paxele | pei |
yes | iou | ani |
the day before yesterday | malakaumei | malaʔo |
2nd person dual independent pronoun | ngolou | ngongou |
3rd person dual independent pronoun | olou | ilou |
Phonology of the Ata language:[5]
Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
Plosive | p | t | k | ʔ |
Fricative | β | s | x | |
Approximant | l |
/s/ is pronounced as alveolo-palatal [ɕ] before /i/, /x/ is voiced as [ɣ] when occurring intervocalically.
A word-initial /i/ is realized as a [j], and a word-initial /u/ becomes a [w] when preceding /o/ or /ɑ/.
Ata makes use of noun classes, some of which are:[6]: 792
- Class 1 nouns: stationary and function in a state of relative stagnancy
- Class 2 nouns: portable and function in a state of relative motion
- Class 3 nouns: relating to the body’s internal needs
Below are some Ata noun class paradigms, using the noun roots lavo’o ‘stone’ and lexe ‘song’ as examples:[6]: 792
root | lavo’o | /stone/ | ‘stone’ |
---|---|---|---|
Class 1 | lavo'o-silo | /stone-my/ | ‘my stone to be used for a house’ |
Class 2 | lavo'o-xeni | /stone-my/ | ‘my stone to be used for breaking nuts’ |
Class 3 | lavo'o-xo | /stone-my/ | ‘my stone for a stone oven’ |
root | lexe | /song/ | ‘song’ |
---|---|---|---|
Class 1 | lexe-silo | /song-my/ | ‘a song to be sung for me’ |
Class 2 | lexe-xeni | /song-my/ | ‘the song I sing’ |
Class 3 | lexe-xo | /song-my/ | ‘the song about me’ |
Selected basic vocabulary items in Ata:[7]
gloss | Ata |
---|---|
bird | ngiala |
blood | sialuxu |
bone | xine |
breast | susu |
ear | sangalie |
eat | ’ie |
egg | atolu |
eye | iei |
fire | navu |
give | iti; losie |
go | lai |
ground | lia |
leg | tava'a |
louse | meni |
man | aliko |
moon | so'io |
name | uala |
one | vile |
road, path | vote'i |
see | maisou |
sky | loxotolo |
stone | lavo'o |
sun | aso |
tongue | levexe |
teeth | anaxu ilaanu (anaxu = 'mouth') |
tree | aiinu; ovu |
two | tamei |
water | lexa |
woman | sema |
- Ata at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
- Yanagida, Tatsuya. 2004. Socio-historic overview of the Ata language, an endangered Papuan language in New Britain, Papua New Guinea. In Shibata Norio and Shionoya, Toru (eds.), Kan minami Taiheiyoo no gengo 3 [Languages of the South Pacific Rim 3], 61-94. Suita: Faculty of Informatics, Osaka Gakuin University.
- United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
- Hashimoto, Kazuo (June 1992). Ata (Pele Ata, Wasi) Language [ATA] Kimbe – West New Britain Province (PDF). Organised Phonology Data: SIL.
- Stebbins, Tonya; Evans, Bethwyn; Terrill, Angela (2018). "The Papuan languages of Island Melanesia". 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. 775–894. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- Hashimoto, Kazuo (2008), Ata-English Dictionary with English-Ata Finderlist, Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics