Meyah, a Language of West Papua, Indonesia
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Meyah, a language of West Papua, Indonesia Pacific Linguistics 619 Pacific Linguistics is a publisher specialising in grammars and linguistic descriptions, dictionaries and other materials on languages of the Pacific, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, southeast and south Asia, and Australia. Pacific Linguistics, established in 1963 through an initial grant from the Hunter Douglas Fund, is associated with the School of Culture, History and Language in the College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University. The authors and editors of Pacific Linguistics publications are drawn from a wide range of institutions around the world. Publications are refereed by scholars with relevant expertise, who are usually not members of the editorial board. FOUNDING EDITOR: Stephen A. Wurm EDITORIAL BOARD: I Wayan Arka and Malcolm Ross (Managing Editors), Mark Donohue, Nicholas Evans, David Nash, Andrew Pawley, Paul Sidwell, Jane Simpson, and Darrell Tryon EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Karen Adams, Arizona State University Marian Klamer, Universiteit Leiden Alexander Adelaar, University of Melbourne Harold Koch, The Australian National Peter Austin, School of Oriental and African University Studies Frantisek Lichtenberk, University of Auckland Byron Bender, University of Hawai‘i John Lynch, University of the South Pacific Walter Bisang, Johannes Gutenberg- Patrick McConvell, Australian Institute of Universität Mainz Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Robert Blust, University of Hawai‘i Studies David Bradley, La Trobe University William McGregor, Aarhus Universitet Lyle Campbell, University of Hawai’i Ulrike Mosel, Christian-Albrechts-Universität James Collins, Northern illinois University zu Kiel Bernard Comrie, Max Planck Institute for Claire Moyse-Faurie, Centre National de la Evolutionary Anthropology Recherche Scientifique Matthew Dryer, State University of New York Bernd Nothofer, Johann Wolfgang Goethe- at Buffalo Universität Frankfurt am Main Jerold A. Edmondson, University of Texas at Ger Reesink, Radboud University, Nijmegen Arlington Lawrence Reid, University of Hawai‘i Margaret Florey, Monash University Jean-Claude Rivierre, Centre National de la William Foley, University of Sydney Recherche Scientifique Karl Franklin, SIL International Melenaite Taumoefolau, University of Auckland Charles Grimes, SIL International Tasaku Tsunoda, University of Tokyo Nikolaus Himmelmann, Universität zu Köln John Wolff, Cornell University Lillian Huang, Shih-chien University, Taiwan Elizabeth Zeitoun, Academica Sinica Bambang Kaswanti Purwo, Universitas Atma Jaya Meyah, a language of West Papua, Indonesia Gilles Gravelle Pacific Linguistics College of Asia and the Pacific The Australian National University Published by Pacific Linguistics School of Culture, History and Language College of Asia and the Pacific The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 Australia Copyright in this edition is vested with Pacific Linguistics First published 2010 National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Author: Gravelle, Gilles Title: Meyah, a language of West Papua, Indonesia/ Gilles Gravelle ISBN: 9780858836259 (pbk.) Notes: Includes bibliographical references Subjects: Meax language Papuan languages Papua (Indonesia)--Languages Dewey number: 499.12 Copyedited by Lila San Roque Typeset by Jeanette Coombes Cover design by Julie Manley Printed and bound by Addcolour Digital Pty Ltd, Fyshwick, Canberra Table of contents Abbreviations and conventions ........................................................................................... xii Map 1: Location of Meyah and Moskona in relation to other languages..........................xiii Map 2: Location of Meyah and Moskona villages............................................................xiii Chapter 1: Introduction..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The language setting.......................................................................................................1 1.2 Geography ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Demography ................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Economy......................................................................................................................... 3 1.5 History ............................................................................................................................ 3 1.6 Kinship ........................................................................................................................... 5 1.7 Traditional beliefs and the introduction of Christianity ................................................. 5 1.8 Language attitudes.......................................................................................................... 6 1.9 The language................................................................................................................... 7 1.9.1 Previous studies ..................................................................................................... 7 1.9.2 Linguistic classification......................................................................................... 7 1.9.3 Relations with other languages.............................................................................. 8 1.9.4 The relationship between Meyah and Moskona .................................................... 9 1.9.5 Other dialect regions............................................................................................ 18 1.10 Period of field research............................................................................................... 20 1.11 Data collection and methods....................................................................................... 20 1.12 Purpose and framework.............................................................................................. 21 Chapter 2: Phonology and morphophonemics .............................................................. 22 2.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 22 2.1 Some notational conventions........................................................................................ 22 2.2 Segmental inventory..................................................................................................... 23 2.2.1 Consonants........................................................................................................... 23 2.2.2 Vowels.................................................................................................................. 30 2.3 Phonotactics.................................................................................................................. 32 2.3.1 Vowel sequences.................................................................................................. 32 2.3.2 Consonant sequences........................................................................................... 34 2.4 Meyah syllable and root structure ................................................................................ 37 2.5 Pitch accent................................................................................................................... 39 v vi 2.5.1 Contrastive pitch accent .......................................................................................39 2.5.2 The acoustic and perceptual correlates of Meyah pitch accent............................40 2.5.3 Syllable weight and accent placement..................................................................44 2.5.4 Lexical roots with more than one accented syllable.............................................45 2.6 Morphophonemics.........................................................................................................48 2.6.1 Vowel harmony.....................................................................................................48 2.6.2 Vowel coalescence................................................................................................49 2.6.3 Nasal assimilation ................................................................................................50 2.6.4 Sample paradigms showing morphophonemic processes ................................... 51 2.7 Reduplication ................................................................................................................53 2.7.1 Constraints on reduplication.................................................................................53 2.7.2 Reduplication rules...............................................................................................53 2.7.3 Reduplication of monosyllabic bases...................................................................55 2.7.4 Reduplication of disyllabic bases.........................................................................55 2.7.5 Reduplication of trisyllabic bases ........................................................................56 2.7.6 Reduplication and vowel sequences.....................................................................56 2.7.7 Reduplication of CV(C) roots ..............................................................................57 2.7.8 Reduplication with nasal epenthesis ....................................................................57 2.7.9 Syllable