# Kwalean languages

The Kwalean or Humene–Uare languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.
The Kwalean languages are spoken in Rigo District, Central Province, Papua New Guinea.

## Languages

The languages are Humene, Uare (Kwale) and recently extinct Mulaha. It is not clear if Mulaha was an outlier, or as close to the others as they are to each other.

## Classification

Humene and Uare are quite close (70% basic vocabulary), Mulaha more distant (22% with Uare).
The Kwalean family is not accepted by Søren Wichmann (2013), who splits it into two separate groups, namely Humene–Uare and Mulaha.

## Proto-language
### Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory of Humene and Uare as follows:
    *m*n *t*k*ʔ *b*d*g *ɸ*h *w*ɾ*j*ɣ
The *k is rare.
Vowels are *i *e *ɛ *a *ɔ *o *u.

### Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns of Humene–Uare as:
    sgpl 1 *ɛ*ɛmɛ 2 *ɣa*ja 3 *ani*jɛ

### Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:
    glossProto-Humene-UareHumeneUare hair/feather *iguˈiʔuˈiku eye *ubumauˈbumauˈbuma nose *jajɔɾɛʒaˈʒoɾeʒaˈʒoɾe tooth *ɣɔnɔnɛβoˈnoneɣoˈnone tongue *majanɛmaˈnanemaˈʒane foot/leg *ɔdaˈodaˈida blood *ɾɔo̝ɾoˈoˈɾoˈu bone *e̝tinɛeˈhineiˈsine skin *ahe̝ɾe̝aˈheɾeaˈhiɾi breast *nuunɛnuˈunenuˈne louse *nɔmɔnɛnoˈmonenoˈmone dog *ɣo̝niβoniˈɣuni pig *abaˈabaˈaba bird *ne̝ni; *t[e̝]b[o̝]ɾ[e̝]neni; teˈboɾeˈnini egg *maɣaˈmaβaˈmaɣa man *wajɛˈβaʒeˈβaʒe woman *nɔgɔnɛnoˈʔonenoˈɣone sun/day *maˈdamaˈdamaˈda moon *batɔˈbatoˈbato water *wɔuˈβouˈβou fire/firewood *iɾɛˈiɾeiɾe stone *hadiˈhadiˈhadi path *e̝biˈebiˈibi name *ninini eat *an-an-an- one *te̝bɔˈteboˈtiba two *ahɛuaˈheuaˈheu

## Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Dutton (1970) (with additional data for Uare from 1988 SIL field notes), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database. Proto-Kwalean reconstructions are from Ross (2014).
Note that the words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. nuune, nune for “breast”) or not (e.g. hadi, aroba for “stone”).
    glossProto-KwaleanHumeneUareMulaha head raˈfunevaˈdini; və'd·inɩyoarowai hair *iku(va)iʔvuai'iku; ˈikuyoroba ear aˈbi'tʰɛɣʌ; ˈteɣaakuru eye *(u)bu(i)vi(ma)uˈbumauˈbuma; u'buməboivi nose *ʒaʒoreʒaˈʒoreĵ ̟ʌ'ĵ ̟ɔre; ʒaˈʒoreine tooth *vono(ne); *wano(ne)voˈnoneɣoˈnone; ɣɔ'nɔnewaina (2?) tongue maˈnanemaˈʒane; mə'j ̟anebebura leg goˈenvaɔdʌ; ˈodakoina louse *(n)omo(ne)noˈmonenoˈmone; 'nɔmoneuˈmana dog *ɣuniˈabaˈaba; 'ɣunɩaba pig *aba(voni) aˈva'ap·ʌ; (ɣuni) aˈvaɣabatuvi bird *teboare(teˈbore) ˈiʔuva'ninɩ; (nini) ˈikuɣaiguvi egg *ma(va)ˈhavaiˈsaɣa; 'maɣʌiakeki blood *ruuroˈoiuː; ˈruˈuiˈaa bone *esi(ne)eˈhineɩ'ine; iˈsineinina skin *ahiriaˈhere kokavaa'hiṟʟ; aˈhiriiaina breast *n(a)u(ne)nuˈune'nune; nuˈnekobaiba tree iˈbadoire; 'ire man *vaʒeoˈhoʒ; ˈvaʒeohɔj ̟e; oˈhoʒe; ˈvaʒe woman *no'ɣonenoʔˈone'lɔɣae; noˈɣone; roˈɣaitina sky *adureaˈdureaˈdure sun *madamaˈda'madʌ; maˈdabauwa moon *batoˈbatoˈbato; 'batʰɔvaisa water *vou; *waraˈvouˈvou; vuvara fire *ireˈireireˈroga; ɩṟɛlokəboareki stone *hadiˈhadi'had·ɩ; ˈhadiaroba road, path 'ibɩ name *ninini; niːwaa anu eat *anE-a-nE-a-nE-; aᵘ ʔoheinatu one *tebaˈteboˈtiba; 'tʰipʌpebogi two *aheua'heᵘ

## Evolution

Kwale reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:
* maɣa ‘egg’ < *maŋgV
* oda ‘leg’ < *k(a,o)ndok[V]
* nomone ‘louse’ < *niman
* ire ‘tree’ < *inda