Tairora

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

The Tairora family is comprised of at least three languages spoken by 13,000 people (2010) living south and southeast of Kainantu in the Kainantu and Obura-Wonenara districts subdistricts of Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands province (McKaughan 1973: 515, Vincent 2010: v, q.v. 2010: iv.)

The internal classification of Tairora is as follows:

Tairora

North Tairora

Omwunra

Vinaata

Vincent (2010: vi, v) conflates Omwunra and Vinaata in a single South Tairora language, defined by several grammatical and phonological features which have been lost in North Tairora. Examination of Omwunra and Vinaata materials (below) show this equivalence to be incorrect. It's possible that there are other Tairora languages or dialects yet to be identified.

Capell (1948-1949: 350-354) pronouns and 118 comparative terms for Taiora (North Tairora)

Vincent and Vincent (1961) (North) Tairora final verbs (unobtained)

Vincent and Vincent (1962) verbal morphology and syntax of (North) Tairora (unobtained)

Vincent and Vincent (1962) phonology of (North) Tairora (unobtained)

Vincent and Vincent (1964) grammar of (North) Tairora

Vincent and Vincent (1968) grammar of (North) Tairora (unobtained)

Vincent (1973: 530-546) nominal morphology of (North) Tairora of Bantura village

Vincent (1973: 561-587) verbal morphology of (North) Tairora

Vincent, compiler (1973: 625-688) (North) Tairora texts

Vincent (1994) dictionary of (North) Tairora

Vincent and Vincent (1994) sketch phonology of Northern Tairora

Vincent and Vincent (1994) sketch phonology of Obura-To'okena

Vincent and Vincent (1994) sketch phonology of Vinata

Vincent (2010) dictionary and grammar of (North) Tairora of Vaantura village, including some forms from Kuvaira (Suwaira) village

McKaughan (1964: 98-121) includes 546 comparative terms for (North) Tairora of Batainabura village, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 694-738)

McKaughan (1973: 588-597) (North) Tairora sequential clauses

Bee (1965: 1-37) 58 (North) Tairora reflexes of proto-Kainantu, reprinted in McKaughan ed. (1973: 739-768)

Kerr (1973: 598-624) verbal subjects for Obura

Kerr (1973: 769-799) 35 (North) Tairora reflexes of proto-Kainantu kin terms

Gajudsek (1980) brief ethnological description and a few words for Pinata

[under construction]

Proto-Tairora had perhaps 11 consonants and 6 vowels as follows:

In addition to the simple vowels above, four diphthongs occur:

Besides long vowels and diphthongs, sequential vowels do not occur in roots.

Consonants do not occur word-finally.

As in other Kainantu languages, medial clusters …

…

Simple consonants correspond as follows:

Medial consonant clusters correspond as follows:

Vowels and diphthongs correspond as follows:

These correspondences are exemplified as follows, with North Tairora of Vaantura drawn from Vincent (2010 ibid.,) Omwunra (Obura-To'okena) from Vincent and Vincent (1994) and Vinaata from Vincent and Vincent (1994.) Vincent's (2010) Kuvaira village forms are indicated with the abbreviation [Kuv].

As Omwunra and Vinaata data is limited to these sketch phonologies, gaps in attestation are not necessarily meaningful and aren't reliable guides for cognate frequencies. East Kainantu roots attested only in North Tairora aren't presented here, because they are very numerous and don't illustrate the differences between Tairora languages.

Bilabial nasal /*m/ …:

… /*m/ …:

… /*m/ …:

… /*m/ …:

Apical nasal /*n/ …:

… /*n/ …:

Palatal nasal /*nʲ/ is merged with both initial and medial reflexes of /*n/ in North Tairora:

Bilabial stop /*p/ …:

Apical stop /*t/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Laminal /*s/ is deoccluded to /h/ in Omuwnra and North Tairora but retained as /s/ in Vinaata:

Velar stop /*k/ is retained as such in all descendants. Infrequency and semantic range suggest that it is found only in loans:

Glottal stop /*ʔ/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Bilabial non-stop /*w/ is generally occluded to [β] in all descendants:

Medial /*w/ is dropped in Omwunra and in Vinaata when following high back vowel /*u/:

Apical non-stop /*ɾ/ is generally retained as such in all descendants:

… /*ɾ/ …:

Palatal non-stop /*j/ is occluded to /kʲ/ in Omwunra and to /k/ in North Tairora, a change shared with Kambaira to the northeast. In Vinaata, it is fricated to /s/ [s ts], a change shared with Awa of the South Kainantu family to the southwest:

….

… /*Nt/ …:

… /*Ns/ …:

… /*Nk/ …:

… /*ʔn/ …:

… :

… /*ʔj/ … The Kuvaira forms are doublets, but it's not clear if one is from Vaantura or the other from Omwunra:

…:

…

High front vowel /*i/ is retained as such in all descendants:

High back vowel /*u/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Mid central vowel /*ɐ/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Long mid front vowel /*e:/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Long mid back vowel /*o:/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Long low central vowel /*ɑ:/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Diphthong /*iᵄ/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Diphthong /*uᵄ/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Diphthong /*ɐⁱ/ is retained as such in all descendants:

Diphthong /*ɐᵘ/ is retained as such in all descendants:

[under construction]

…

…

[under construction]

…