| Teberan | |
|---|---|
| Dadibi–Folopa | |
| Geographic distribution | Papua New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Papuan Gulf?
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | tebe1251 |
 Map: The Teberan languages of New Guinea The Teberan languages Trans–New Guinea languages Other Papuan languages Austronesian languages Uninhabited | |
TheTeberan languages are a well establishedfamily ofPapuan languages thatStephen Wurm (1975) grouped with thePawaia language as a branch of theTrans–New Guinea phylum.
There are two Teberan languages,Dadibi andFolopa (Podopa). They are spoken inSouthern Highlands Province and in adjoining provinces.
Malcolm Ross (2005) tentatively retains both Teberan and Pawaia within TNG, but sees no other connection between them. Noting insufficient evidence, Pawley and Hammarström (2018) tentatively leave Teberan as unclassified rather than as part of Trans-New Guinea.[2]
Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for Teberan to be classified as part ofTrans-New Guinea, though they do note the following lexical resemblances between the Teberan languages andproto-Trans-New Guinea.[2]
According toDryer (2022), based on a preliminary quantitative analysis of data from theASJP database, Teberan is likely to be a subgroup of Trans–New Guinea.[3]
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[4]
| gloss | Proto-Dadibi-Folopa | Dadibi | Folopa |
|---|---|---|---|
| head | *tobo | tobo-lu | tobo |
| hair/feather | *ni[g]i | nisi | niki |
| ear/hear | *[w]odzo | olo ~ odo- | woso 'hear'; woseni 'ear' |
| eye | *ge[…] | ge-du | kele |
| nose | *gun… | guni | gunumu; kurumu |
| tongue | *kamina | hamina | |
| bone | *di[l/r]i | dili | diri |
| skin/bark | *wadz[i/e] | wali | wase |
| breast | *ame | ame | ame |
| dog | *j[o]wi | jowi ~ juwi | juwi |
| pig | *kibu | kibu | hupu |
| bird | *ba | ba | ba |
| egg/seed | *ge | ge | ke |
| tree/wood | *ni | ni | ni |
| woman/female | *so | so | so |
| sun/day | *s[u]g[a] | sogo | suka |
| water | *wẽi | wẽ | wẽi |
| fire/sun | *si[a] | sia | si |
| path/door | *tũ | tũ | tũ ~ tu |
| eat/drink | *nV- | n-/nuku- (present) | |
| one/another | *me | me | me |