The Mantion–Meax or (South)East Bird's Head languages are a language family of three languages in the "Bird's Head Peninsula" of western New Guinea, spoken by all together 20,000 people.
| Mantion–Meax | |
|---|---|
| East Bird's Head | |
| Geographic distribution | Papua |
| Linguistic classification | West Papuan?
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| Subdivisions |
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| Glottolog | east1459 |
East Bird's Head languages (in red) | |
East Bird's Head stock (3 languages)
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for the proto-language (Usher's Southeast Bird's Head) are:
| Number | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Singular | Plural | |
| exclusive | inclusive | ||
| 1st | *da, *di- | *meme, *me- | *mimi, *mi- |
| 2nd | *ba, *bi- | *ia, *i- | |
| 3rd | *e, *- | *rua, *ri- | |
Lexical similarities among East Bird's Head languages (Meyah, Moskona, Sougb, Hatam, Mansim) listed in Holton & Klamer (2018):[1]
| gloss | Meyah | Moskona | Sougb | Hatam | Mansim |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘bird’ | mem | mem | ba | hab | waw |
| ‘louse’ | mej | mej | mem | mem | |
| ‘one’ | egens | erges | hom | gom | wom |
| ‘night’ | motu | mot | loba | mmun | |
| ‘I’ | didif | dif | dan | dani | danu |
Additional East Bird's Head basic vocabulary quoted by Holton & Klamer (2018)[1] from Miedema & Reesink (2004: 34) and (Reesink 2005: 202), showing diverse non-cognate vocabulary across different branches:[2][3]
| gloss | Meyah | Moskona | Sougb | Hatam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| arm/hand | etma | etma | s(i)ra | ndab |
| leg/foot | aki | egak/oko | ohora | mig |
| house | mod | mod | tu | ig |
| good | oufa | ojfa | eigouh | kei |
| dog | mes | mes | mihi | nsien |
| pig | mek | mek | hwej | nab |
| chicken | mongkukar | memkoar | berougb | guri |
| louse | mej | mej | mem | mem |
| water/river | mei | mij | uhu | nyei |
| banana | meni | nej | wida |
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975)[4] and Miedema & Welling (1985),[5] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[6]
| gloss | Manikion | Meyah | Meyah (Akrin dialect) | Meyah (Mumbrani dialect) | Meyah (Etskebi dialect) | Meyah (Miun dialect) | Meyah (Anason dialect) | Moskona | Moskona (Merdey dialect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| head | mogt | ibirfa | méwifa | miːfa | méwèr | èwit | iwir | ibre | biwèr |
| hair | mokodi | feji | méwifesi | miːfèsyi | meyfreits | iwirèfes | iwirèreys | feja | biwèrfesyé |
| eye | ma-i resi | itec | yetèts | mitèt | eytet(s) | mèntèt | mèteys | iteja | bitèts |
| tooth | mokta | bufon | mufon | mufon | bufon(afon) | fon | mefon | ifon | mu(o)fuon |
| leg | mohoti-muʔ | maki | maki | maːki | meyak | ipèk | ikak | igaka | daki |
| louse | kuta | mec | mèːt | mè(i)t(s) | meys | mais | meys | meyds | mèts |
| dog | mehi | mes | mès | mès | mèt(y) | mèyt | mèt | mès | |
| pig | hweij | mek | mèk | mèk -ui; mèk-us | mèk | mèk | mèːk | mèk | |
| bird | ba | mem | mèm | mèm | mèm | mèm | meːm | mem | mèm |
| egg | moʔwuʔ | ofou | òfeu | afo(i) ofo(i) | mémafu(i) | afeː | efiː | ofug | ofow |
| blood | mokuhi | mugufu | okguwu | m(u)fora | -axof | aguf | agof | ifugwa | oxwofi |
| bone | mori | mofora | acfora | (m)ogu(e) | afar | or | c(a)fon | ikofa | ofora |
| skin | mos | mofos | a(o)wos | muos | menkar | afuots | awuot(y) | mosho | muos |
| tree | sako | merga | mèga | òkàwu(n) | merga | apow | akow | mergowoho | okow |
| man | giji | nuna | dusnok | mona | iːs | isosk | isnok | eris | runa |
| sun | idesi; igda | mowa | mowa | mauwa | mauw | mouw | mauwa | mau | mou |
| water | tohu | mei | mey | mey | miː | mey | miy | mei | mey |
| fire | smow | mowoxo | maːx | maːx | merax | maːx | merax | merah | mèrax |
| stone | idahabu | mamu | mamu | mami | mox(w)om | mekom | maukom | mamo | muosgoni |
| name | moxo | mofoka | dufòkah | mufaka | bou(y)ok | ifap | iwuok | iwoko | buoka |
| eat | eth | etmar | mit | miːt | mièt | mit | menèt | itmar | bitmar |
| one | hom | ergens | èrgèns | èrgèns | èrgèns | afims | arfins | erges | èrgèns |
| two | huay | ergek | ègeka | èrgèk | argak | afik | èrfik | ergak | ergak |
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| West Papuan |
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| Extended West Papuan |
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