Sumuri language
Trans-New Guinea language spoken in Indonesia
Sumuri or Sumeri (one of two Papuan languages also known as Tanah Merah) is a language spoken in Sumuri District, Teluk Bintuni Regency on the Bomberai Peninsula by about a thousand people.
01Distribution
In Sumuri District of Teluk Bintuni Regency, Sumuri people reside in Tofoi (district capital), Materabu Jaya, Forada, Agoda, Saengga, Tanah Merah Baru, Onar Lama, and Onar Baru villages.
02Classification
In the classifications of Malcolm Ross (2005) and Timothy Usher (2020), Sumeri forms an independent branch of the Trans-New Guinea family, but Palmer (2018) classifies it as a language isolate. It does not fit in with any of the established branches of TNG, but based on what little data there is, it would seem to be closest to either the Berau Gulf branches (i.e. South Bird's Head, West Bomberai etc.) or the Asmat-Mombum languages and their relatives further east.
Sumeri has previously been linked to the Mairasi languages, but those do not share the TNG pronouns of Sumeri. The Sumeri pronouns are:
sg pl 1ex na-fea kiria 1in kigokomaka 2 ka-fea ki-fia
There are no 3rd-person personal pronouns, only demonstratives. The pronouns appear to reflect pTNG *na 1sg, *ga 2sg, and *gi 2pl.
03Vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
gloss Tanah Merah head breŋka; kidaso hair nisa; nua eye ka-bita; ndou tooth eti; kioni leg kiwi; oto louse ia; miŋ dog ibe; yoku pig opo; tayna bird awə; finanaburu egg doŋ; no blood kinatera; sa bone naso; oro skin ele; katane tree o; ono; taya man do; maopa sun soniŋ; weti water bu; moda fire avonabe; siŋ stone kenade; oru name nigia; wado eat anine; taue one besika; naduma two bi; wanitabo
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Sumuri language”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Sumuri language.svg by Kwamikagami, CC BY-SA 4.0
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