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Busa language (Papuan)

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Busa
Odiai
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionSandaun Province, Amanab District, north of Upper Sepik River, west of Namia. 3 villages. Yare is north and east, Abau is south and west, Biaka is northwest.
Native speakers
370 (2011 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3bhf
Glottologodia1239
ELPBusa
Coordinates: 3°49′S 141°20′E / 3.817°S 141.333°E / -3.817; 141.333

The Busa language, also known as Odiai (Uriai), is spoken in three hamlets of northwestern Papua New Guinea.[2] There were 244 speakers at the time of the 2000 census. One of the hamlets where Busa is spoken is Busa (3°50′14″S 141°26′25″E / 3.837112°S 141.440227°E / -3.837112; 141.440227 (Busa)) in Rawei ward, Green River Rural LLG, Sandaun Province.[3]

Busa speakers are in extensive trade and cultural contact with Yadë, a distantly related language spoken in six villages to the north of the Busa area.[2]

Classification

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Busa may be one of the Kwomtari languages. Foley (2018) classifies Busa as a language isolate (meaning unclassified), but does not exclude the possibility that it may have a distant relationship with the Torricelli languages.[2]

Pronouns

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Pronouns are:[2]

Busa basic pronouns
sg pl
1 mu mi
2 am
3m a ~ ari ti
3f tu

Basic vocabulary

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Busa basic vocabulary listed in Foley (2018):[2]

Busa basic vocabulary
gloss Busa
‘bad’ buriambu
‘bird’ wana
‘black’ baro
‘breast’
‘ear’ dina
‘eye’ dena
‘fire’ eβa
‘leaf’ iri
‘liver’ munã
‘louse’ amo
‘man’ nutu
‘mother’ mẽ
‘nape’ onaiba
‘older brother’ aba
‘road’ ti
‘stone’ bito
‘tooth’ wuti
‘tree’ nda
‘water’ ani
‘woman’ ele
‘one’ otutu
‘two’ tinana
‘three’ wunana
‘four’ aite
‘five’ yumnadi

The following basic vocabulary words are from Conrad and Dye (1975),[4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[5]

gloss Busa
head owuna
hair etete
ear dinʌ
eye dena
nose wʌti
tooth wuti
tongue dʌgʌrʌ
louse amo
dog inʌri
pig waru
bird wʌnʌ
egg mʌiyʌ
blood aɔ̨
bone ab̶uwibʌ
skin tati
breast
tree nda
man nutu
woman
water ani
stone bitɔ
road, path ti
eat muniʌren
one otutu
two tinʌnʌ

Affixes

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Busa subject agreement affixes are:[2]

Busa subject agreement affixes
sg pl
1 ma- ma-
2 a- a-
3 m _r_- m-
3 f _w_-

The Busa possessive suffix -ni is also found in proto-Sepik as the dative suffix *ni, as well as in Ama, a Left May language.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Busa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". 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. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  4. ^ Conrad, R. and Dye, W. "Some Language Relationships in the Upper Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea". In Conrad, R., Dye, W., Thomson, N. and Bruce Jr., L. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 18. A-40:1-36. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-A40.1
  5. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
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