Momuna-Mek

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

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The Momuna-Mek family is composed of nine languages spoken …

The internal classification of Momuna-Mek is as follows:

Momuna-Mek

Momuna

Mek

East Mek

West Mek

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Bromley (1966-1967) …

Voorhoeve (1975: 398) states that “[Somohai's] closest relationships appear to be with the Ok languages and the languages of the Dumut sub-family of the Awyu-Dumut family.” This is consistent with our findings inasmuch as there is no indication that the Mek languages were considered in Voorhoeve's analysis.

Wurm (1982: 187) …

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Proto-Momuna-Mek had 14 consonants and at least 8 vowels as follows:

In addition to the simple vowels given above, eight diphthongs are found as follows:

…:

…:

…:

…:

…:

Initial consonants correspond as follows:

Medial consonants correspond as follows:

Final consonants corerspond as follows:

Vowels and diphthongs corerspond as follows:

These correspondences are exemplified as follows, with Momuna attestations drawn from Reimer (1986, CITE.)

Any consonant can occur initially.

Initial bilabial nasal /*m/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Initial apical nasal /*n/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Initial bilabial voiceless stop /*p/ is lost in Momuna as it is in most Mek languages:

Initial apical voiceless stop /*t/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Initial laminal voiceless /*s/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Intiial velar voiceless stop /*k/ …:

Initial rounded velar voiceless stop /*kʷ/ … :

… /*kʷ/ … :

Initial bilabial voiced stop /*b/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Initial apical voiced stop /*d/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Initial velar voiced stop /*g/ is devoiced to /k/ in Momuna. merging with with the reflexes of initial voiceless /*k/ (above):

Initial rounded velar voiced stop /*gʷ/ is devoiced to /*kʷ/ in Momuna:

Initial bilabial non-stop /*w/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Initial apical non-stop /*l/ …:

Initial palatal non-stop /*j/ is generally retained as such in both subgroups:

… /*j/ …:

…/*j/ …:

Medial consonants …

Medial bilabial nasal /*m/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Medial apical nasal /*n/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Medial apical voiceless stop /*t/ …:

Medial laminal voiceless /*s/ …:

Medial velar voiceless stop /*k/ …:

…/*k/ …:

Medial bilabial voiced stop /*b/ …

Medial apical voiced stop /*d/ …:

Medial velar voiced stop /*g/ …:

Medial bilabial non-stop /*w/ …:

Medial apical non-stop /*l/ …:

Medial palatal non-stop /*j/ …:

Final consonants …

Final bilabial nasal /*m/ is retained as such in both subgroups:

Final apical nasal /*n/ …:

Final velar nasal /*ŋ/ …:

Final apical voiceless stop /*t/ …:

Final laminal voiceless /*s/ …

Final velar voiceless stop /*k/ …:

Final bilabial voiced stop /*b/ …

… final /*b/ …

Final apical voiced stop /*d/ …:

Final velar voiced stop /*g/ …:

Final apical non-stop /*l/ …:

Vowels and diphthongs …

High front vowel /*i/ …:

According to Reimer (CITE,) Momuna front and back vowels are prohibited from cooccuring in the same morpheme in the Balim River dialect from which her materials were drawn. This rule suggests Momuna /u/ in the following to result from this harmony rule:

Reimer (CITE) mentions also an “anti-harmony rule” in the Rekai River dialect, such that high back rounded vowel /*u/ is replaced by high front /i/ if there is a rounded back vowel in an adjacent syllable; thus the village [sumɒ] is called instead [simɒ] while the language [mɒmuna] is called [mɒmina]. In light of the example above, it seems probable that these are the more original forms, as Mek has no harmony rule which might account for this discrepancy.

High back rounded vowel /*u/ …:

High mid fron vowel /*e̝/ …::

High mid back rounded vowel /*o̝/ …:

Low mid front vowel /*ɛ/…:

Low mid back rounded vowel /*ɔ/ …:

Low back rounded vowel /*ɒ/ …:

Low central vowel /*a/ …:

…:

… /*o̝ᵘ/ …:

…:

… /*ɔᵘ/ …:

… /*aⁱ/ …:

… /*aᵘ/ …:

… /*aᵋ/ …:

…:

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