| Sumuri | |
|---|---|
| Sumeri | |
| Tanah Merah | |
| Region | Sumuri District,Teluk Bintuni Regency,West Papua (Bapai Rover andGondu River areas) |
| Ethnicity | Sumuri |
Native speakers | (500 cited 1978)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tcm |
| Glottolog | tana1288 |
| ELP | Tanahmerah |
 Map: The Sumeri language of New Guinea (located at left, in the Bird's Head) The Sumeri language Other Trans–New Guinea languages Other Papuan languages Austronesian languages Uninhabited | |
Sumuri orSumeri (one of twoPapuan languages also known asTanah Merah) is a language spoken in Sumuri District,Teluk Bintuni Regency on theBomberai Peninsula by about a thousand people.
In Sumuri District ofTeluk Bintuni Regency, Sumuri people reside in Tofoi (district capital), Materabu Jaya, Forada, Agoda, Saengga, Tanah Merah Baru, Onar Lama, and Onar Baru villages.[2]
In the classifications ofMalcolm Ross (2005) and Timothy Usher (2020), Sumeri forms an independent branch of theTrans–New Guinea family, but Palmer (2018) classifies it as alanguage isolate.[3]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 theAsmat–Mombum languages and their relatives further east.
Sumeri has previously been linked to theMairasi 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.
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[5]
| 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 |
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.