The Ata language, also known as Pele-Ata after its two dialects, or Wasi, is a Papuan language spoken on New Britain island, Papua New Guinea. It appears to be related to neighboring Anêm, and possibly also to Yélî Dnye in a proposed Yele-West New Britain family. There are about 2000 speakers.
| Ata | |
|---|---|
| Pele-Ata | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | New Britain |
Native speakers | 2,000 (2007)[1] |
West New Britain
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ata |
| Glottolog | pele1245 |
| ELP | Pele-Ata |
Ata is spoken in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province, and in Talasea District, West New Britain Province.[2]
Dialects
editAccording to Yanagida (2004), there are two dialects of Ata, a Lower dialect spoken in the lowlands and an Upper dialect spoken in the mountains.[3] The Lower dialect is spoken in Bialla Rural LLG, West New Britain Province, while the Upper dialect is spoken mostly in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province:[4]
Lower dialect (in Bialla Rural LLG, West New Britain Province):
- Kiava (Old Kiava) (5°25′50″S 151°02′49″E / 5.43047°S 151.047°E)
- Korovasi
- Malasi (5°27′56″S 150°58′41″E / 5.46557°S 150.978°E)
- Milikina (Elobe) (5°34′06″S 150°53′31″E / 5.56842°S 150.892°E)
- Mulusi
- Ole
- Sale (Gogosi) (5°31′43″S 150°57′47″E / 5.52855°S 150.963°E)
- Sege (5°31′47″S 150°55′23″E / 5.52977°S 150.923°E)
- Silanga [settlement] (5°33′16″S 150°50′56″E / 5.55438°S 150.849°E)
Upper dialect (in West Pomio-Mamusi Rural LLG, East New Britain Province, unless noted otherwise):
- Sipa (Bauka), West New Britain (5°35′44″S 150°53′13″E / 5.59544°S 150.887°E)
- Uasilau [settlement], West New Britain (5°34′58″S 150°53′02″E / 5.58284°S 150.884°E)
- Kaikou (5°39′08″S 150°59′32″E / 5.652238°S 150.992254°E)
- Lavugi (5°38′28″S 150°58′03″E / 5.641182°S 150.967552°E)
- Luge, West New Britain (5°33′45″S 150°51′04″E / 5.56239°S 150.851°E)
- Ti (5°38′41″S 151°00′01″E / 5.644822°S 151.000275°E)
- Yauyau (5°37′38″S 150°57′35″E / 5.627284°S 150.959744°E)
- Kukulu (5°38′41″S 151°00′01″E / 5.644822°S 151.000275°E)
Both the lower and upper dialects are spoken in the settlement of Silanga.
There are some lexical differences between the dialects. Some examples are listed below.[3]: 71
gloss Upper Ata Lower Ata rain uali laʔiua sweet potato totoʔo kelatu cassava mio mio, mioxa throw something paxele pei yes iou ani the day before yesterday malakaumei malaʔo 2nd person dual
independent pronounngolou ngongou 3rd person dual
independent pronounolou ilou
Phonology
editPhonology of the Ata language:[5]
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
| Plosive | p | t | k | ʔ |
| Fricative | β | s | x | |
| Approximant | l |
/s/ is pronounced as alveolo-palatal [ɕ] before /i/, /x/ is voiced as [ɣ] when occurring intervocalically.
A word-initial /i/ is realized as a [j], and a word-initial /u/ becomes a [w] when preceding /o/ or /ɑ/.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i iː | u uː |
| Mid | ɛ ɛː | o oː |
| Low | ɑ ɑː |
Noun classes
editAta makes use of noun classes, some of which are:[6]: 792
- Class 1 nouns: stationary and function in a state of relative stagnancy
- Class 2 nouns: portable and function in a state of relative motion
- Class 3 nouns: relating to the body’s internal needs
Below are some Ata noun class paradigms, using the noun roots lavo’o ‘stone’ and lexe ‘song’ as examples:[6]: 792
root lavo’o /stone/ ‘stone’ Class 1 lavo'o-silo /stone-my/ ‘my stone to be used for a house’ Class 2 lavo'o-xeni /stone-my/ ‘my stone to be used for breaking nuts’ Class 3 lavo'o-xo /stone-my/ ‘my stone for a stone oven’
root lexe /song/ ‘song’ Class 1 lexe-silo /song-my/ ‘a song to be sung for me’ Class 2 lexe-xeni /song-my/ ‘the song I sing’ Class 3 lexe-xo /song-my/ ‘the song about me’
Vocabulary
editSelected basic vocabulary items in Ata:[7]
gloss Ata bird ngiala blood sialuxu bone xine breast susu ear sangalie eat ’ie egg atolu eye iei fire navu give iti; losie go lai ground lia leg tava'a louse meni man aliko moon so'io name uala one vile road, path vote'i see maisou sky loxotolo stone lavo'o sun aso tongue levexe teeth anaxu ilaanu (anaxu = 'mouth') tree aiinu; ovu two tamei water lexa woman sema
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Ata at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
- ^ a b Yanagida, Tatsuya. 2004. Socio-historic overview of the Ata language, an endangered Papuan language in New Britain, Papua New Guinea. In Shibata Norio and Shionoya, Toru (eds.), Kan minami Taiheiyoo no gengo 3 [Languages of the South Pacific Rim 3], 61-94. Suita: Faculty of Informatics, Osaka Gakuin University.
- ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
- ^ Hashimoto, Kazuo (June 1992). Ata (Pele Ata, Wasi) Language [ATA] Kimbe – West New Britain Province (PDF). Organised Phonology Data: SIL.
- ^ a b Stebbins, Tonya; Evans, Bethwyn; Terrill, Angela (2018). "The Papuan languages of Island Melanesia". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 775–894. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- ^ Hashimoto (2008)
Further reading
edit- Hashimoto, Kazuo (2008), Ata-English Dictionary with English-Ata Finderlist, Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics