Eastern Trans-Fly languages

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).



! Language !! Location !! Population !! Alternate names !! Dialects
 * + List of Oriomo (Eastern Trans-Fly) languages
 * Gizrra || south Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) || 1,050 || Gizra || Western Gizra and Waidoro (-9.199°N, 142.75885°W) dialects
 * Bine || south Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) || 2,000 || || Kunini (-9.0915°N, 143.00908°W), Boze-Giringarede (-9.06073°N, 143.03836°W), Sogal (-8.93995°N, 142.84107°W), Masingle (-9.13098°N, 142.95079°W), Tate (-9.07873°N, 142.87751°W), Irupi-Drageli (-9.13539°N, 142.86298°W; -9.16147°N, 142.89229°W), and Sebe (-9.05089°N, 142.69825°W) dialects
 * Wipi || east Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) || 3,500 || Wipim, Gidra, Oriomo, Jibu || Dorogori (-9.02977°N, 143.21514°W), Abam (-8.92682°N, 143.19112°W), Peawa (-8.88608°N, 143.19205°W), Ume (-9.02145°N, 143.06951°W), Kuru (-8.90184°N, 143.07444°W), Woigo (-8.89719°N, 143.19818°W), Wonie (-8.8366°N, 142.97458°W), Iamega (-8.76856°N, 142.91733°W), Gamaewe (-8.95462°N, 142.9328°W), Podari (-8.86273°N, 142.86035°W), Wipim (-8.7866°N, 142.87122°W), Kapal (-8.62054°N, 142.81563°W), Rual (-8.57032°N, 142.85601°W), Guiam, and Yuta dialects
 * Meryam Mir || Australia: Torres Strait Islands of Erub (Darnley Island), Ugar (Stephen Island), and Mer (Murray Island) || 700 || Meriam Mir || Erub (no longer used) and Mer dialects
 * }
 * Wipi || east Oriomo-Bituri Rural LLG, Western Province (Papua New Guinea) || 3,500 || Wipim, Gidra, Oriomo, Jibu || Dorogori (-9.02977°N, 143.21514°W), Abam (-8.92682°N, 143.19112°W), Peawa (-8.88608°N, 143.19205°W), Ume (-9.02145°N, 143.06951°W), Kuru (-8.90184°N, 143.07444°W), Woigo (-8.89719°N, 143.19818°W), Wonie (-8.8366°N, 142.97458°W), Iamega (-8.76856°N, 142.91733°W), Gamaewe (-8.95462°N, 142.9328°W), Podari (-8.86273°N, 142.86035°W), Wipim (-8.7866°N, 142.87122°W), Kapal (-8.62054°N, 142.81563°W), Rual (-8.57032°N, 142.85601°W), Guiam, and Yuta dialects
 * Meryam Mir || Australia: Torres Strait Islands of Erub (Darnley Island), Ugar (Stephen Island), and Mer (Murray Island) || 700 || Meriam Mir || Erub (no longer used) and Mer dialects
 * }
 * }

Pronouns
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto–Eastern Trans-Fly are,


 * {| class=wikitable


 * rowspan=2| I || rowspan=2| *ka || exclusive we || *ki
 * inclusive we || *mi
 * thou || *ma || you || *we
 * he/she/it || *tabV; *e || they || *tepi
 * }
 * thou || *ma || you || *we
 * he/she/it || *tabV; *e || they || *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.


 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! Bine (Täti dialect) !! Bine (Sogal dialect) !! Gizra (Kupere dialect) !! Wipi (Dorogori dialect) !! Meriam Mir ! head ! hair ! ear ! eye ! nose ! tooth ! tongue ! leg ! louse ! dog ! pig ! bird ! egg ! blood ! bone ! skin ! breast ! tree ! man ! woman ! sun ! moon ! water ! fire ! stone ! name ! eat ! one ! two
 * mopo || mopo || siŋɨl || mopʰ || kìrìm
 * ede ŋæři || mopo ŋæři || eřŋen || mop ŋɨs || mus
 * tablam || tablamo || gublam || yəkəpya || girip, laip
 * iřeʔu || iřeku || ilkʰəp || yəř || erkep
 * keke || keke || siəkʰ || sok || pit
 * giřiʔu || || ziřgup || || tìrìg
 * wætæ || wærtæ || uːlitʰ || vlat || werut
 * er̃ŋe || er̃ŋe || wapʰər̃ || kwa || teter
 * ŋamwe || ŋamo || ŋəm || bɨnɨm || nem
 * dřego || dřeŋgo || ume || yɔŋg || omai
 * blomwe || blomo || || b'om || borom
 * eře || eře || pʰöyɑy || yi || ebur
 * ku || ku || uŕgup || kʰɨp || wer
 * uːdi || uːdi || əi || wɔːdž || mam
 * kaːke || kaːko || kʰus || kʰakʰ || lid
 * tæːpwe || tæːpo || sopʰai || gɨm || gegur
 * nono || ŋamo || ŋiam || ŋɔm || nano
 * uli || uli || nugup || wʉl || lu(g)
 * řoːřie || řoːřie || pʰam || r̃ɨga || kimiar
 * magebe || magobe || kʰoːl || kʰɔŋga || koskìr
 * abwedži || bimu || abɨs || lom || lìm
 * mřeːpwe || mabye || mɛlpal || mobi || meb
 * niːye || niːye || nai || ni || nì
 * ulobo || ulikobo || uːř || par̃a || ur
 * kula || kula || iŋlkʰup || gli || bakìr
 * ŋi || ŋi || ŋi || niː || nei
 * || || waː aloda || nina wavwin || ero
 * neːteřa || yepæ || dər̃pʰan || yəpa || netat
 * neneni || neneni || niːs || nɨmɔg || neis
 * }