View source for Burmeso language

{{Short description|Papuan language}}
{{Distinguish|Burmese language}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Burmeso
|altname=Taurap
|region=[[Papua (Indonesian province)|Papua]]: [[Mamberamo Raya Regency]], [[:id:Mamberamo Tengah, Mamberamo Raya|Mamberamo Tengah]] subdistrict, Burmeso village on the banks of the Middle [[Mamberamo River]]
|speakers=250
|date=1998
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Papuan
|fam1=[[West Papuan languages|West Papuan]] or [[language isolate]]
|fam2=(extended) East Bird's Head
|iso3=bzu
|glotto=burm1264
|glottorefname=Burmeso
}}

The '''Burmeso language''' – also known as '''Taurap''' – is spoken by some 300 people in Burmeso village along the mid [[Mamberamo River]] in [[:id:Mamberamo Tengah, Mamberamo Raya|Mamberamo Tengah]] subdistrict, [[Mamberamo Raya Regency]], [[Papua (Indonesian province)|Papua province]], [[Indonesia]]. It is surrounded by the [[Kwerba languages]] to the north, the [[Lakes Plain languages]] to the south, and the [[East Cenderawasih Bay languages]] to the west.

Burmeso forms a branch of [[Malcolm Ross (linguist)|Malcolm Ross]]'s family of [[East Bird's Head – Sentani languages]], but had been considered a [[language isolate]] by [[Stephen Wurm]] and [[William A. Foley]].<ref name="Foley-NWNG"/> The language has very distinct grammatical structure.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Haspelmath|first=Martin|title=Grammatical, Gender and Linguistic Complexity Volume I: General issues and Specific studies|url=https://langsci-press.org/catalog/view/223/1567/1648-1|website=langsci-press.org|access-date=2021-06-14}}</ref> It has [[Subject–object–verb word order|SOV]] word order.<ref name="Foley-NWNG" />

==Phonology==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Consonants:<ref name="Foley-NWNG"/>
|-
! colspan="2" | 
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}} || {{IPA link|n}} || || || 
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive]]
! {{small|voiceless}}
| || {{IPA link|t}} || || {{IPA link|k}}
| 
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|b}} || {{IPA link|d}} || {{IPA link|ʤ}} || {{IPA link|ɡ}} || 
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
! {{small|plain}}
| {{IPA link|ɸ}} || {{IPA link|s}} || || || {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! {{small|labial}}
| || || || || {{IPA link|hʷ}}
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
| || {{IPA link|r}} || || || 
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Semivowel]]
| {{IPA link|w}} || || {{IPA link|j}} || || 
|}

Probable sound changes proposed by Foley (2018):
* *p > /ɸ/
* *tʃ > /s/

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Vowels:<ref name="Foley-NWNG"/>
! || [[Front vowel|Front]]|| [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}} || {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}} || {{IPA link|o}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|a}} 
|}

==Pronouns==
Burmeso independent pronouns are:<ref name="Foley-NWNG"/>
:{| {{table}}
!  !! sg !! du !! pl
|-
! 1
| da || day || boro
|-
! 2
| ba ||  || bito
|}

==Nouns==
Burmeso has six [[noun class]]es, which are:<ref name="Foley-NWNG"/>
:{| {{table}}
! class !! semantic category
|-
| 1 || male humans and associated things (contains half of all nouns)
|-
| 2 || female humans and associated things
|-
| 3 || body parts, insects, and lizards; material culture like axes and canoes, some foods; many natural phenomena
|-
| 4 || mass nouns
|-
| 5 || the two staple foods: sago tree and banana
|-
| 6 || arrows, coconuts, and rice (traded items)
|}

Burmeso nouns have three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.<ref name="Foley-Typology">{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |author-link=William A. Foley |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The morphosyntactic typology of Papuan languages |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=895–938 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref> Singular concordial suffixes are:

*-''ab'' ‘masculine’
*-''an'' ‘feminine’
*-''ora'' ‘neuter’

Examples of nominal concordial suffixes in usage:

{{interlinear|number=(1)
|koya bek-'''ab'''
|grandfather good-'''M.SG'''
|‘Grandfather is good.’}}

{{interlinear|number=(2)
|asia ek-'''an'''
|grandmother good-'''F.SG'''
|‘Grandmother is good.’}}

==Basic vocabulary==
Basic vocabulary of Burmeso (singular and plural nominal forms) listed in [[William A. Foley|Foley]] (2018):<ref name="Foley-NWNG">{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The languages of Northwest New Guinea |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=433–568 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref>

:{| {{table}}
|+ Burmeso basic vocabulary
! gloss !! singular !! plural
|-
| ‘bird’ || tahabo || tohwodo
|-
| ‘blood’ || sar || sarido
|-
| ‘bone’ || hiwraf || himaruro
|-
| ‘breast’ || mom || momut
|-
| ‘ear’ || ara || 
|-
| ‘eat’ || bomo || 
|-
| ‘egg’ || kahup || kohuro
|-
| ‘eye’ || anar || anuro
|-
| ‘fire’ || hor || horemir
|-
| ‘give’ || i ~ o || 
|-
| ‘hair’ || ihna || ihiro
|-
| ‘leg’ || ago || agoro
|-
| ‘louse’ || hati || 
|-
| ‘man’ || tamo || dit
|-
| ‘name’ || ahau || 
|-
| ‘one’ || neisano || 
|-
| ‘see’ || ihi || 
|-
| ‘stone’ || ako || hiruro
|-
| ‘sun’ || misiabo || misiado
|-
| ‘tooth’ || arawar || araruro
|-
| ‘tree’ || haman || hememido
|-
| ‘water’ || baw || bagaruro
|-
| ‘woman’ || nawak || nudo
|}

Many Burmeso nouns display irregular and suppletive plural forms.<ref name="Foley-NWNG"/>

:{| {{table}}
! gloss !! singular !! plural
|-
| ‘man’ || tamo || dit
|-
| ‘banana’ || mibo || mirar
|-
| ‘dog’ || jamo || juwdo
|-
| ‘pig’ || sibo || sirudo
|-
| ‘[[white cockatoo]]’ || ayab || ayot
|-
| ‘house’ || konor || konodo
|-
| ‘mat’ || wira || wirasamir
|}

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),<ref>Voorhoeve, C.L. ''Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists''. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. {{doi|10.15144/PL-B31}}</ref> as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://transnewguinea.org/language/burmeso |title=TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea |last=Greenhill |first=Simon |date=2016| access-date=2020-11-05}}</ref>

:{| class="wikitable sortable"
! gloss !! Burmeso
|-
| head || agum
|-
| hair || ihiro
|-
| eye || jenar
|-
| tooth || araruro
|-
| leg || jago
|-
| louse || hati
|-
| dog || jamo
|-
| pig || sibo
|-
| bird || tohodo
|-
| egg || kohũp
|-
| blood || sar
|-
| bone || hiurap
|-
| skin || asi memiro
|-
| tree || haman
|-
| man || tamo
|-
| sun || misiavo
|-
| water || bau
|-
| fire || hor
|-
| stone || ako
|-
| name || ahau
|-
| eat || bomo
|-
| one || neisano
|-
| two || sor
|}

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
*Donohue, Mark. 2001. Animacy, class and gender in Burmeso. In: Pawley et al. (eds.), ''The Boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian Linguistics in Honour of Tom Dutton''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.97–117.
*Tasti, Markus and Mark Donohue. 1998. ''A Small Dictionary of Burmeso''. Unpublished ms, University of Sydney.

{{Papuan languages}}
{{Languages of Indonesia}}
{{West Papuan languages}}

[[Category:Languages of Western New Guinea]]
[[Category:East Bird's Head languages]]
[[Category:Unclassified languages of New Guinea]]