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| Orya–Tor | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Tor River region,Western New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Northwest Papuan?
|
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | toro1256 |
TheOrya–Tor languages are afamily of just over a dozenPapuan languages spoken inWestern New Guinea, Indonesia.
The Tor family, named after theTor River, is clearly established. Its closest relative appears to beOrya.
Stephen Wurm (1975) linked Orya and the Tor languages with theLakes Plain languages, forming a branch of hisTrans–New Guinea phylum. Clouse (1997) found no evidence of such a connection.[1]Malcolm Ross (2005) linked them instead with part of another erstwhile branch of TNG in aTor–Kwerba proposal, and Usher makes a broadly similar proposal.Glottolog accepts only the link with Orya as having been demonstrated.[2]
Foley (2018) provides the following classification.[3]
| Tor | |
Foley considers the inclusion ofSause within the Tor family to be questionable due to insufficient lexical evidence.[3] SeeKapauri–Sause languages.
Timothy Usher provides the following classification:[4]
| Orya – Tor River | |
Jofotek and Mander are found to be the same language, whereas the ISO conflation of Edwas and Bonerif is found to be spurious.A Wares language is not attested. (The Wares people are not known to have a distinct language, and the language of the village of Wares isMawes.)[5]
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory tentatively as follows:[4]
| *m | *n | |||
| *p | *t | *s | *k | *kʷ |
| *b | *d | *dz | *gʷ | |
| *w | *ɾ |
The stop *d is marginal and only occurs initially. *ɾ does not occur initially.
| *i | *u | |
| *e | *o | |
| *ɛ | *ə | *ɔ |
| *a |
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Orya–Tor are,
| I | *ai | exclusive we | ? |
| inclusive we | *ne | ||
| thou | *emei | you | *em |
| s/he | *je | they | ? |
Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns of the East Tor Coast branch as:[4]
| sg | pl | |
|---|---|---|
| 1excl | *ai/ana | *ai-saise (?) |
| 1incl | *ne-saise (?) | |
| 2 | *im[i] | *im[i]-saise |
| 3 | *dei | *dei-saise |
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[4]
| gloss | Proto-Orya-Tor River | Proto-Tor River | Orya |
|---|---|---|---|
| head | *nəbaɾ | *nəbaɾ | |
| leaf/hair | *aɾ[ɛ/a][n/ŋ] | *aɾ[ɛ/a][n/ŋ] | ala |
| eye | *nVwɛ | *nVwɛ | nwe |
| nose | *masɛ | *masɛ | mase |
| tongue | *mapəɾ[Vm] | *mafəɾVm | mahal |
| foot/leg | *ta[g]əna | *ta[g]əna | tana |
| breast | *mo̝m | *mo̝m | mom |
| louse | *nɛna | *nɛna | |
| dog | *gʷəɾa | *gʷəɾa | |
| pig | *gʷas | *gʷas | |
| bird | *dzu | *dzu | |
| egg | *s[u]w[e̝] | *s[u]w[e̝] | |
| tree/wood | *te̝ | *te̝ | te |
| woman/wife | *kʷe̝ | *kʷe̝ | we |
| moon | *p[ɛⁱ]n | *fɛⁱn | |
| water | *pɔ | *fɔ | ho |
| path | *nVɾ | *nVɾ | |
| name | *bo̝s[ɛ/a] | *bo̝s[ɛ/a] | bose |
| one | *apa | *afa | |
| two | *nawɛt | *nawɛt |
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.