Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Tsaka Enga, or simply Enga, is spoken by approximately 150,000 people (2002) living in the central and eastern portions of Papua New Guinea's Enga province. “Enga” was originally a Melpa term applied by the earliest European explorers; the native term for the language is Endakali pii, meaning “[real] people speech.” The staple crop of the Enga region is the sweet potato (Lang 1973: xi, Draper and Draper 2002: 1.)
Capell (1948-1949: 368-372) 107 comparative terms for Tjaga and Tjirunki varieties of Enga
Crotty (1951) Tchaga dictionary
Lang (1973) Enga dictionary and extensive grammar notes from Wabag and Kopetesa village
Franklin (1974) 16 Enga reflexes of Proto-Engan, reprinted in Franklin and Franklin (1978: 84-85)
Hintze (1975) phonology of Mai Enga
Franklin (1975: 264-268: 591) 98 Enga reflexes of proto-Engan (Enga-Southern Highlands)
Davies and Comrie (1985: 283-311) 116 comparative terms for four varieties of Enga Wapi (after J. M. Bowers,) Lapalama (S. Malakali,) Lapalama (K. Maini) Laiagam. (K. Lopa) and Sari (J. Kapi)
Draper and Draper (2002) Kyaka dictionary includes some words from the Sau variety of Tsaka Enga
Additionally, the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Ukarumpa provides a sketch phonology of Enga, but it's undated and unattributed.
Lang (1973: xvi-xvii) gives the following 16 consonants and 5 vowels for Enga:
| m | n | ɲ | ŋ |
| p | t | ts | k |
| mb | nd | ndz | ŋg |
| ɽ | ʎ | ||
| w | j |
Medial voiceless apical /t/ is typically realized as a trill [r]. Medial velar /k/ is fricated when preceded and followed by low and back vowels /a o u/. Affricate /ts/, given as <s> in Lang's orthography, is realized as [ts] initially and as [dz z] medially.
Prenasalized /ndz/ is realized as [ndz] or as [ndʒ] as in Kyaka.
Orthographic <l> is specified as a retroflexed flap /ɽ/.
Velar nasal /ŋ/ is marginal, and cannot be identified with any proto-Trans Enga segment.
Neither final consonants nor consonant clusters occur.
As in Kyaka and Lembena, final vowels are devoiced.
There are at least three apparently word-level tone counters, with syllables taking high or low tones; their indication here differs from Lang's and is based upon Lang's (p. xvii) somewhat underspecified phonetic description.
| i | u | |
| e | o | |
| a |
Lang (1973 ibid.) gives standard Enga pronouns as follows:
| 1 sg. | ná-mbá |
| 2 sg. | é-mbà |
| 3 sg. | mbá: |
| 1 pl. | náì-ma |
| 2 pl. | ɲaká-mà |
| 3 pl. | ɲaká-mà |
| 1 dl. | naɽí-mbà |
| 2 dl. | ɲaká-mbà |
| 3 dl. | ɲaɽámbò ≈ ɲiʎámbò |
The third person dual form above is also given for the second person dual.
Additionally, several dialect variant forms are given, those of Torenama being the most conservative: 1 sg. /ná:/, 2 sg. /nímbà/, 1 pl. /nanímà/.
The plural forms are marked with a suffix /-ma/, in contrast to /-mba/ found on singulars and duals.
Ergative and possesssive forms are suffixed with /-me/ and /-ɲa/ respectively.
Lang (1973: xxviii-li) presents the following desinences for final forms of the root /ɽa/ “utter”, with vowel /e/ replacing /a/ in the far past and present tenses. There is no distinction between second and third person dual and plural forms, respectively:
| far past | near past | past | present | future | |
| 1 sg. | -è-ó | -p-ú | -ɽ-ò | -éʎ-ò | -t-ó |
| 2 sg. | -è-é | -p-í | -ɽ-é-nò | -eɽ-é-nò | -t-é |
| 3 sg. | -è-á | -p | -ɽ-á-mò | -eʎ-á-mò | -t-á |
| 1 pl. | -eà-má | -pù-má | -ɽa-má-nò | -eʎa-má-nò | -tà-má |
| 2/3 pl. | -eà-mí | -pì-mí | -ɽa-mí-nò | -eʎa-mí-nò | -tà-mí |
| 1 dl. | -eà-mbá | -pù-mbá | -ɽa-mbá-nò | -eʎa-mbá-nò | -tà-mbá |
| 2/3 dl. | -eà-mbí | -pù-mbí | -ɽa-mbí-nò | -eʎa-mbí-nò | -tà-mbí |
Lang gives imperative/hortative desinences for /na/ “eat” and /pi/ “do” as follows:
| immediate | late | |||
| 1 sg. | na-wa | pʲ-owa | na-to: | pi-tu: |
| 2 sg. | na:-Ø | pi:-Ø | na-pe | pi-pi |
| 3 sg. | n-ena | pi-na | n-ena | pi-na |
| 1 pl. | na-ma | pi-ma | na-ma-na | pi-ma-na |
| 2 pl. | na-ɽapa | pʲ-epa | na-ɽapa-pe | pʲ-epa-pe |
| 3 pl. | n-ena | pi-na | n-ena | pi-na |
| 1 dl. | na-mba | pi-mba | na-mba-na | pi-mba-na |
| 2 dl. | na-ɽapa | pʲ-epa | na-ɽapa-pe | pʲ-epa-pe |
| 3 dl. | na-ɽapa | pʲ-epa | na-ɽapa-pe | pʲ-epa-pe |
The difference between the meanings of the immediate imperative and the late imperative is not explained.