Engan
Enga–Kewa–Huli Enga – Southern Highlands
Geographic distribution	New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Trans–New Guinea orPapuan Gulf? Central New Guinea Highlands Engan
Subdivisions	North (Engan) South (Kewa–Huli)
Language codes
Glottolog	enga1254
Map: The Engan languages of New Guinea   The Engan languages   Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Uninhabited

TheEngan languages, or more preciselyEnga–Kewa–Huli orEnga – Southern Highland, are a smallfamily ofPapuan languages of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The two branches of the family are rather distantly related, but were connected by Franklin and Voorhoeve (1973).^[1]

The name "Engan" is often restricted to the northern branch of the family, to those languages transparently related to Enga, but also sometimes to the family as a whole.

The languages fall into three quite distinct branches: Engan proper, Huli, and Southern Highlands:

• North Engan (Engan proper):Enga–Kyaka–Lembena,Ipili,Bisorio (Nete, Iniai)
• South Engan (Kewa–Huli)
  • Huli
  • Southern Highlands:Angal (Mendi),Kewa;Samberigi (Sau)

The Engan family constitutes a branch of theTrans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Wurm and ofMalcolm Ross, but the evidence for this is weak.

Usher links the Engan andChimbu languages in aCentral New Guinea Highlands family.^[2]

There are a considerable number of resemblances withWiru. Borrowing has not been ruled out as the reason for this, though the pronouns are similar as well.

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:^[3]

*m	*n
*p	*t		*k
*mb	*nd		*ŋg
*w	*l	*j

Vowels are *i *e *a *o *u.

Pronouns are easy to reconstruct for the northern and southern branches, but much more difficult for Engan as a whole. Ross (2005) has the following for the singular, Wiru has been added for comparison:

	pEngan	N Engan	S Engan	Wiru
1	**nə	*na-ba	*ní	no (gen.anu)
2	**ne-ke	*ne-ba	*ne-ke	ne (gen.ne-ke)
3	?	*ba	*[n]i-bu	one

Usher (2020) has not yet published reconstruction of Engan as a whole, but has done Engan proper:^[4]

Engan proper

	sg	du	pl
1	*na(-mba)	*nali(-mba)	*nani(-ma)
2	*ni(-mba)
3	*[e]-mba

Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-Trans Enga (Proto-Engan) by Usher (2020) are:^[3]

gloss	Proto-Trans-Enga	Proto-Southern Highlands	Huli
name	*ŋge	*[i]mbi	mi-ni
fire/tree	*ita	*ti	iɾa
moon	*kana	*eke, *jumba	ege
four	*tumenda	*mala	ma-
path	*kaita	*pota	haɾiga
stand	*kata	*ka	ha
cassowary	*laima	*jati	jaɾi
skin	*jan[o/u]	*joŋgale	doŋgo-ne

The Enga-Kewa-Huli reflexes ofproto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma, if Engan languages are indeed members of the Trans-New Guinea family, are:^[5]

Enga:

• mona ‘heart’ < *mundun
• yaka ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
• lyaŋa ‘ashes’ < *la(ŋ,k)a
• ŋaŋa ‘baby < *ŋaŋ(a)
• (m)ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
• kuri ‘bone’ < *kondaC
• kare ‘ear’ < *kand(e,i)k(V]
• ne- ‘eat’ < *na
• apa(ne) ‘father’ < *apa
• iti ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
• endo ‘fire’ < *kend(o,u)p
• lema ‘louse’ < *niman
• kana ‘moon’ < *takVn[V]
• mana ‘instructions’ < *mana
• kitama ‘morning’ < *k(i,u)tuma
• kumi- ‘die’ < *kumV-
• re- ‘speak’ < *nde-
• maa ‘taro’ < *mV
• ita ‘tree’ < *inda

Huli:

• ega ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)
• na- ‘eat’ < *na-
• aba ‘father’ < *apa
• iri ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
• ira ‘tree’ < *inda
• ma ‘taro’ < *mV

Kewa:

• ama ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
• ibi ‘name’ < *imbi
• iri ‘hair’ < *iti[C]
• uni ‘bone’ < *kwanjaC
• apu ‘tail’ < *a(mb,m)u
• lema ‘louse’ < *niman
• oma ‘die’ < *kumV-
• reka- ‘stand’ < *t(a,e)kV-
• la- ‘talk’ < *nde-
• maa ‘taro’ < *mV
• yaa ‘bird’ < *yaka(i)

Mendi:

• am ‘mother’ < *am(a,i)
• ap ‘father’ < *apa
• mbi ‘name’ < *imbi
• ome- ‘die’ < *kumV-

Basic vocabulary ofEnga andKewa fromWilliam A. Foley (1986). The pairs of words are not necessarily cognate.^[6]

gloss	Enga	Kewa
‘two’	rama	laapo
‘man’	akari	ali
‘water’	ipa	ipa
‘fire’	ita	repona
‘tree’	ita	are
‘leaf’	yoko	yo
‘root’	pingi	pitaa
‘house’	ada	ada
‘breast’	adu	adu
‘tooth’	nege	agaa
‘bone’	kori	kuli
‘ear’	kare	kale
‘hair’	iti	iri
‘leg’	kape	aa
‘blood’	kupapu	kupaa
‘hand’	ruma	ki
‘egg’	kapa	yaa apaa
‘sun’	nita	nare
‘axe’	patama	rai
‘netbag’	nuu	nu
‘eat’	ne-	na-
‘die’	kumi-	koma-
‘say’	re-	la-
‘give’	mai-/gi-	gi-
‘big’	adake	adaa

• Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". InAndrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.).Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66.doi:10.15144/PL-572.ISBN 0858835622.OCLC 67292782.

• Ross, Malcolm. 2014.Proto-Engan.TransNewGuinea.org.

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World,Enga – Southern HighlandsArchived 2016-04-13 at theWayback Machine
  • (ibid.)Trans-Enga

• Engan languages
• Languages of Papua New Guinea
• Papuan languages
• Language families
• Northeast New Guinea languages

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Webarchive template wayback links