# Eastern Trans-Fly languages

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The Eastern Trans-Fly (or Oriomo Plateau) languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages spoken in the Oriomo Plateau to the west of the Fly River in New Guinea.

## Classification

The languages constituted a branch of Stephen Wurm's 1970 Trans-Fly proposal, which he later incorporated into his 1975 expansion of the Trans–New Guinea family as part of a Trans-Fly – Bulaka River branch. They are retained as a family but removed from Trans–New Guinea in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher.
Wurm had determined that some of the languages he classified as Trans-Fly were not actually part of the Trans-New Guinea family but were instead heavily influenced by Trans-New Guinea languages. In 2005, Ross removed most of these languages, including Eastern Trans-Fly, from Wurm's Trans-New Guinea classification.
Timothy Usher links the four languages, which he calls Oriomo Plateau, to the Pahoturi languages and the Tabo language in an expanded Eastern Trans-Fly family.

## Languages

* Meriam (within the national borders of Australia)
* Bine
* Wipi (Gidra)
* Gizrra
Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans (2018) are provided below. Geographical coordinates are also provided for each dialect (which are named after villages).
    List of Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages LanguageLocationPopulationAlternate namesDialects Gizrrasouth Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea)1,050GizraWestern Gizra and Waidoro (9°11′56″S 142°45′32″E﻿ / ﻿9.199001°S 142.758852°E﻿ / -9.199001; 142.758852﻿ (Waidoro)) dialects Binesouth Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea)2,000Kunini (9°05′29″S 143°00′33″E﻿ / ﻿9.091499°S 143.009076°E﻿ / -9.091499; 143.009076﻿ (Kunini)), Boze-Giringarede (9°03′39″S 143°02′18″E﻿ / ﻿9.06073°S 143.03836°E﻿ / -9.06073; 143.03836﻿ (Boze)), Sogal (8°56′24″S 142°50′28″E﻿ / ﻿8.93995°S 142.841073°E﻿ / -8.93995; 142.841073﻿ (Sogale)), Masingle (9°07′52″S 142°57′03″E﻿ / ﻿9.130976°S 142.950793°E﻿ / -9.130976; 142.950793﻿ (Masingara)), Tate (9°04′43″S 142°52′39″E﻿ / ﻿9.078728°S 142.877514°E﻿ / -9.078728; 142.877514﻿ (Tati)), Irupi-Drageli (9°08′07″S 142°51′47″E﻿ / ﻿9.135394°S 142.862977°E﻿ / -9.135394; 142.862977﻿ (Iru'upi); 9°09′41″S 142°53′32″E﻿ / ﻿9.161472°S 142.892287°E﻿ / -9.161472; 142.892287﻿ (Drageli)), and Sebe (9°03′03″S 142°41′54″E﻿ / ﻿9.050889°S 142.698247°E﻿ / -9.050889; 142.698247﻿ (Sebe)) dialects Wipieast Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea)3,500Wipim, Gidra, Oriomo, JibuDorogori (9°01′47″S 143°12′55″E﻿ / ﻿9.029768°S 143.215139°E﻿ / -9.029768; 143.215139﻿ (Dorogori No. 2)), Abam (8°55′37″S 143°11′28″E﻿ / ﻿8.926818°S 143.19112°E﻿ / -8.926818; 143.19112﻿ (Abam)), Peawa (8°53′10″S 143°11′31″E﻿ / ﻿8.886084°S 143.192049°E﻿ / -8.886084; 143.192049﻿ (Peawa (Woigi))), Ume (9°01′17″S 143°04′10″E﻿ / ﻿9.021446°S 143.069507°E﻿ / -9.021446; 143.069507﻿ (U'ume)), Kuru (8°54′07″S 143°04′28″E﻿ / ﻿8.901837°S 143.074435°E﻿ / -8.901837; 143.074435﻿ (Kuru No 1)), Woigo (8°53′50″S 143°11′53″E﻿ / ﻿8.897189°S 143.19818°E﻿ / -8.897189; 143.19818﻿ (Woigi)), Wonie (8°50′12″S 142°58′28″E﻿ / ﻿8.836602°S 142.974578°E﻿ / -8.836602; 142.974578﻿ (Wonie)), Iamega (8°46′07″S 142°55′02″E﻿ / ﻿8.768564°S 142.91733°E﻿ / -8.768564; 142.91733﻿ (Yamega (iamega))), Gamaewe (8°57′17″S 142°55′58″E﻿ / ﻿8.954618°S 142.932798°E﻿ / -8.954618; 142.932798﻿ (Gamaewe)), Podari (8°51′46″S 142°51′37″E﻿ / ﻿8.862731°S 142.860353°E﻿ / -8.862731; 142.860353﻿ (Podare)), Wipim (8°47′12″S 142°52′16″E﻿ / ﻿8.786604°S 142.871224°E﻿ / -8.786604; 142.871224﻿ (Wipim)), Kapal (8°37′14″S 142°48′56″E﻿ / ﻿8.620541°S 142.815635°E﻿ / -8.620541; 142.815635﻿ (Kapal)), Rual (8°34′13″S 142°51′22″E﻿ / ﻿8.570315°S 142.85601°E﻿ / -8.570315; 142.85601﻿ (Rual No. 1)), Guiam, and Yuta dialects Meryam MirAustralia: Torres Strait Islands of Erub (Darnley Island), Ugar (Stephen Island), and Mer (Murray Island)700Meriam MirErub (no longer used) and Mer dialects

## Pronouns

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto–Eastern Trans-Fly are,
    I*kaexclusive we*ki inclusive we*mi thou*mayou*we he/she/it*tabV; *ethey*tepi
There is a possibility of a connection here to Trans–New Guinea. If the inclusive pronoun is historically a second-person form, then there would appear to be i-ablaut for the plural: *ka~ki, **ma~mi, **tapa~tapi. This is similar to the ablaut reconstructed for TNG (*na~ni, *ga~gi). Although the pronouns themselves are dissimilar, ablaut is not likely to be borrowed. On the other hand, there is some formal resemblance to Austronesian pronouns (*(a)ku I, *(ka)mu you, *kita we inc., *(ka)mi we exc., *ia he/she/it; some archeological, cultural and linguistic evidence of Austronesian contact and settlement in the area exists (David et al., 2011; McNiven et al., 2011; McNiven et al., 2006; McNiven et al., 2004: 67-68; Mitchell 1995).

## Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words for Bine (Täti dialect), Bine (Sogal dialect), Gizra (Kupere dialect) and Wipi (Dorogori dialect) are from the Trans-New Guinea database. The equivalent words for Meriam Mir are also included.
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. iřeʔu, iřeku, ilkʰəp for “eye”) or not (e.g. dřeŋgo, ume, yɔŋg for “dog”).
    glossBine (Täti dialect)Bine (Sogal dialect)Gizra (Kupere dialect)Wipi (Dorogori dialect)Meriam Mir head mopomoposiŋɨlmopʰkìrìm hair ede ŋæřimopo ŋæřieřŋenmop ŋɨsmus ear tablamtablamogublamyəkəpyagirip, laip eye iřeʔuiřekuilkʰəpyəřerkep nose kekekekesiəkʰsokpit tooth giřiʔuziřguptìrìg tongue wætæwærtæuːlitʰvlatwerut leg er̃ŋeer̃ŋewapʰər̃kwateter louse ŋamweŋamoŋəmbɨnɨmnem dog dřegodřeŋgoumeyɔŋgomai pig blomweblomob'omborom bird eřeeřepʰöyɑyyiebur egg kukuuŕgupkʰɨpwer blood uːdiuːdiəiwɔːdžmam bone kaːkekaːkokʰuskʰakʰlid skin tæːpwetæːposopʰaigɨmgegur breast nonoŋamoŋiamŋɔmnano tree uliulinugupwʉllu(g) man řoːřieřoːřiepʰamr̃ɨgakimiar woman magebemagobekʰoːlkʰɔŋgakoskìr sun abwedžibimuabɨslomlìm moon mřeːpwemabyemɛlpalmobimeb water niːyeniːyenaininì fire uloboulikobouːřpar̃aur stone kulakulaiŋlkʰupglibakìr name ŋiŋiŋiniːnei eat waː alodanina wavwinero one neːteřayepædər̃pʰanyəpanetat two nenenineneniniːsnɨmɔgneis