Proto-Trans–New Guinea language

Proto-Trans–New Guinea is the reconstructed proto-language ancestral to the Trans–New Guinea languages. Reconstructions have been proposed by Malcolm Ross and Andrew Pawley.

Proto-Trans–New Guinea is reconstructed with a typical simple Papuan inventory: five vowels /i e a o u/; three phonations of stops at three places /p t k/, /ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ/, /m n ŋ/; plus a palatal affricate /ᶮdʒ/, the fricative /s/, and the approximants /l j w/. Syllables are typically (C)V, with CVC possible at the ends of words. Many of the languages have restricted tone systems.

Consonants^[1]: 136

	Bilabial	Apical	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p	t		k
Prenasalised plosives	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᶮʤ	ᵑg
Nasals	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Fricatives		s
Laterals		l
Semivowels	w		j

The Proto-Trans–New Guinea vowels are reconstructed as having a cross-linguistically frequent five-vowel system:

Vowels^[1]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Ross reconstructs the following pronominal paradigm for Trans–New Guinea, with *a~*i ablaut for singular~non-singular:

I	*na	we	*ni
thou	*ga	you	*gi
s/he	*(y)a, *ua	they	*i

There is a related but less commonly attested form for 'we', *nu, as well as a *ja for 'you', which Ross speculates may have been a polite form. In addition, there were dual suffixes *-li and *-t, and a plural suffix *-nV, (i.e. n plus a vowel) as well as collective number suffixes *-pi- (dual) and *-m- (plural) that functioned as inclusive we when used in the first person. (Reflexes of the collective suffixes, however, are limited geographically to the central and eastern highlands, and so might not be as old as proto-Trans–New Guinea.)

Studies group Madang, Finisterre-Huon, and Kainantu-Goroka together as part of a larger Northeast New Guinea (NENG) group on the basis of morphological evidence, such as mutually reconstructable verbal suffixes that mark subject:^{[2][1]: 147–148}

Proto-Northeast New Guinea subject-marking verbal suffixes

	singular	dual	plural
1st person	*-Vn	*-u(l,t)	*-un, *-i
2nd person	*-an	*-i(l,t)	*-ai, *-i, *-a
3rd person	*-a, *-i		*-ai

Comparison of reconstructions of subject-marking verbal suffixes

	proto-Northeast New Guinea	proto-Madang	proto-Finisterre-Huon	proto-Kainantu-Goroka	Proto-Trans–New Guinea (tentative)
1sg	*-Vn	*-in	?	*-u	*-Vn
2sg	*-an	*-an,*-i	*-an	*-an	*-Vn
3sg	*-a,*-i	*-a,*-an	*-a,*-i	*-ai,*-i	*-a,*-i
1du	*-u(l,t)	-*-u(l,t)	*-u(l,t)	*-ur	*-u(l,t)
2/3du	*-i(l,t)	*-i(l,t)	*-i(l,t)	?	*-i(l,t)
1pl	*-un,*-i	*-un	*-un	*-un
2/3pl	*-ai,*-i,*-a	*-ai,*-i	*-e,*-i	*-a

Lexical words, such as *niman 'louse', may also be reconstructed:

Reflexes of *niman 'louse', which attest to an intermediate *iman in the east:

Chimbu–Wahgi: Mid/Nuclear Wahgi numan

Engan: Enga & Kewa lema

Finisterre–Huon: Kâte imeŋ, Selepet imen

Gogodala mi

Kainantu–Goroka: Awa nu, Tairora nume, Fore numaa, Gende (tu)nima

Southern Kiwai nimo

Koiarian: Managalasi uma

Kolopom: Kimaghama nome, Riantana nome

Kwale nomone

Madang: Kalam yman, Watiwa (Rai Coast) im, Sirva (Adelbert) iima

Mek: Kosarek ami

Marori nemeŋk

Paniai Lakes: Ekari yame (metathesis?)

Timor–Alor–Pantar: Western Pantar (h)amiŋ, Oirata amin (metathesis?)

Wiru nomo

Questionable branches:

Pauwasi: Yafi yemar

Central Sentani mi

The Proto-Trans–New Guinea negative is reconstructed as *ma-.^[1] Negatives in Trans–New Guinea languages usually have either an mV- or nV- form.^[1]

• *mV (often *ma): Angaatɨha (Angan); Apalɨ, Waskia, Kalam (Madang); Kâte, Kombe (Finisterre-Huon)
• *na ~ *naa: Awara (Finisterre-Huon); Enga, Ku Waru, Middle Wahgi (Chimbu-Wahgi); Oksapmin

This article should specify the language of its non-English content using {{lang}} or {{langx}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. See why. (May 2025)

For other lexical comparison tables of Papuan languages, see also:

• West Papuan languages#Lexical comparison
• West Bomberai languages#Lexical comparison
• West Papuan Highlands languages#Lexical comparison^{[broken anchor]}
• Northwest Papuan languages#Lexical comparison^{[broken anchor]}
• Trans-Fly–Bulaka River languages#Lexical comparison^{[broken anchor]}
• Papuan Gulf languages#Lexical comparison
• Torricelli languages#Lexical comparison
• Sepik–Ramu languages#Lexical comparison
• East Papuan languages#Lexical comparison

• List of Proto-Trans-New Guinea reconstructions (Wiktionary)

Synchronic reflexes

• Madang languages#Evolution
  • Kalam language#Evolution
  • Apali language#Evolution
• Finisterre–Huon languages#Evolution
  • Kâte language#Evolution
  • Selepet language#Evolution
• Kainantu–Goroka languages#Evolution
• Engan languages#Evolution
• Chimbu–Wahgi languages#Evolution
  • Wahgi language#Evolution
• East Strickland languages#Evolution
• Greater Awyu languages#Evolution
  • Mandobo language#Evolution
• Asmat–Kamrau languages#Evolution
  • Asmat language#Evolution
• Ok languages#Evolution
  • Telefol language#Evolution
• Marind–Yaqai languages#Evolution
• Paniai Lakes languages#Evolution
• Dani languages#Evolution
• Mek languages#Evolution
• Wiru language#Evolution
• Duna–Pogaya languages#Evolution
• Kutubuan languages#Evolution
• Kiwaian languages#Evolution
  • Kiwai language#Evolution
• Tirio languages#Evolution
• Awin–Pa–Kamula languages#Evolution
• Kolopom languages#Evolution
• Morori language#Evolution
• Gogodala–Suki languages#Evolution
• Inland Gulf languages#Evolution
• Greater Binanderean languages#Evolution
  • Binandere language#Evolution
• Mailuan languages#Evolution
• Dagan languages#Evolution
• Goilalan languages#Evolution
• Koiarian languages#Evolution
• Kwalean languages#Evolution
• Yareban languages#Evolution
• Manubaran languages#Evolution
• Timor–Alor–Pantar languages#Evolution

• Ross, Malcolm. 2014. Proto-Trans-New-Guinea. TransNewGuinea.org.

Wiktionary has a list of reconstructed forms at Appendix:Proto-Trans-New Guinea reconstructions

• TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea (by Simon Greenhill)
• Timothy Usher's Newguineaworld site