Melpa language
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Melpa (Medlpa, Mbowamb) is a Papuan language spoken by about 130,000 people predominantly in Mount Hagen and the surrounding district of Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.
Melpa is a Pandanus language used during karuka harvest.[1] Melpa has a voiceless velar lateral fricative, written as a double-barred el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). Melpa is notable for its binary counting system. A dictionary of Melpa has been compiled by Stewart, Strathern and Trantow (2011).[2]
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | ||
| Stop | voicelessScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| prenasalizedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | ||
| Rhotic | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | |||||
| Lateral | Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | |||
| Semivowel | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link Template:Grapheme | ||||
Vowels
Numeral system
| Decimal | Melpa | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Script error: No such module "Lang". | "one" |
| 2 | ragl | "two" |
| 3 | ragltika | "two-one" |
| 4 | tembokak | "four" |
| 5 | pemp ti gul | "one past four" |
| 6 | pemp ragl gul | "two past four" |
| 7 | pemp ragltika gul | "two-one past four" |
| 8 | engakl | "eight" |
| 9 | pemp ti pip | "one past eight" |
| 10 | pemp ragl pip | "two past eight" |
Media
Temboka, a dialect of Melpa, is the native language of the Ganiga tribe,[3] who featured prominently in the Highlands Trilogy of documentaries by Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly (First Contact, Joe Leahy's Neighbours, and Black Harvest).
The documentary Ongka's Big Moka also has Melpa dialogue.
References
External links
- Melpa laterals
- Kay Owens. "The Work of Glendon Lean on the Counting Systems of Papua New Guinea and Oceania", section "The Melpa Counting System". Mathematics Education Research Journal vol. 13 (April 2001), Script error: No such module "doi".
- Melpa Phonology
Template:Languages of Papua New Guinea Template:Chimbu–Wahgi languages
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Stewart, Pamela J., Andrew Strathern and Jürgen Trantow. 2011. Melpa-German-English Dictionary. Pittsburgh: University Library System.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".