The Languages of the Eastern Family of the East New Guinea Highland Stock

X. Introduction

HOWARD McKAUGHAN

The bulk of the descriptive studies of the Auyana-Usarufa has been done
be Darlene L, Bee of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. References and
acknowledgment appear in the first footnote of each chapter. Her studies
are of the Usarufa, spoken by some 1,000 persons. Data are from the
village of Kaagu (Orona). The Auyana, a name covering the dialect spoken
in the villages of Kosena, Arora, and Asempa among others and the dialect
spoken in the village of Kawaina, is summarized by McKaughan and Marks.
The collection of texts is also from the Auyana. The map of the Eastern
Highlands Study Area shows the Auyana, north of the Awa (see Map 2).
Villages of Asempa (5) and Kawaina (6) are located as is the area for
Kosena and Usarufa,

Dr. Bee prefers that Usarufa be called a language rather than a dialect.
Her studies do indicate a substantial difference between the two, and though
Usarufa is more closely related to Auyana than to any of the other study
languages (Awa, Gadsup, and Tairora), it may be as well to regard the
Auyana-Usarufa as a subfamily rather than dialects of the same language.
Criteria for establishing language versus dialect are yet to be formalized to
the satisfaction of all. In this case, the differences between Usarufa and
Auyana are more substantial grammatically, perhaps, than the differences
between the various Awa dialects. The people insist on a difference, and
though in this respect native reaction is dangerous, we will stick to the two
names, Auyana and Usarufa. However, there is not this kind of difference
between Kosena and Auyana, the language spoken in the village of Kosena
being little different from that in Arora from where the Kosena people mi-
grated within remembered history.

McKaughan and Marks summarize the Auyana phonology in the following

179

i8o Part Two: Auyana-Usarufa

chapter, so nothing more need be said here. The consonant and vowel sys-
tem of Auyana is compared to the other languages in Chapter XXXV.
The notes on the Auyana grammar in McKaughan and Marks are aug-
mented substantially by the treatment by Bee on Usarufa. The phonological
studies of Usarufa are of special interest in that they highlight (A) tone,
a newly discovered feature of New Guinea languages; and (B) distinctive
features, an approach not used by the other writers, new in its application
to New Guinea languages. Bee's article in Part V (Chap. XXXVI) on
comparative problems is also of interest along this line since she comments
on the distinctive features in the other languages of the study group.

The original publishers of Chapters XI I and XIII are indicated in the
footnotes. The only difference between the original publications and those
given here is the use of an orthography that is consistent with the other
descriptions where it does not alter the information given.

The texts will afford an opportunity for further analysis and description of
Auyana, and also give the reader-analyst an opportunity to compare Auyana
and Usarufa.

XIII. Usarufa Distinctive Features
and Phonemes

DARLENE BEE

1. Introduction

1.1. General

Usarufa reflects many of the features which are common to the lan-
guages classified by Wurm {1962a) as the East New Guinea Highland
Stock. ^ It is therefore hoped that a presentation of some of the aspects of
Usarufa phonemics and morphophonemics will give insight into problems
of analysis faced by those studying other languages in the stock. The spe-
cific contribution which this paper hopes to make is in the area of distinctive
features analysis which has heretofore been lacking in the descriptive state-
ments of New Guinea languages.

Problems of interpretation and analysis are discussed in three of the
articles in Studies in New Guinea Linguistics, ^ The problems are basically
the same in all three articles; (A) interpretation of contoid and vocoid
clusters and (B) the decision as to which if any of a series of phonetic
variants to unite as single phonemes when a given variant is in identical
complementary distribution with more than one other phonetically similar
variant. Rosemary Young (1962) suggests several interpretational possi-
bilities and selects the one most suitable for her purposes of comparison.
R. and R. Nicholson (1962) go more deeply into the problems involved

»This paper was originally submitted as a Master's Thesis at Indiana University,
Bloomington, and is based on materials collected under the auspices of the Summer
Institute of Linguistics. It was later published as pp. 39-68 in Papers in New Guinea
Linguistics, No. 4, Linguistic Circle of Canberra Publications (Series A: Occasional
Papers, No. 6) (Australian National University, 1965).

2 Oceania Linguistic Monographs No. 6, Studies in New Guinea Linguistics by
members of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, New Guinea Branch, published by
University of Sydney, Australia, 1962.

204

XIIL Usarufa Distinctive Features and Phonemes 205

and show the implications of two different interpretations of the Fore sys-
tem. Bee and Glasgow (see Chap. XII) rely heavily on pattern pressure
and phonetic similarity for their conclusions. None of these analyses con-
sider distinctive features and therefore miss some of the clues that such an
approach might offer. This paper attempts to present the Usarufa material
from a distinctive feature point of view and to show how such an approach
does offer analytical clues and yet leave some areas open to nonunique
solutions.

The Usarufa speaking area is located in a pocket surrounded by Kamano,
Kanite, Fore, and a small segment of Auyana speakers. All of these lan-
guages except the Auyana have been classified by Wurm as members of
language families distinct from Usarufa. Nevertheless most adult Usarufa
speakers speak at least one of the three more distantly related languages
and many speak all three. Contrariwise very few Fore, Kamano, or Kanite
speakers are able to speak Usarufa. Also of note is the fact that except for
the residents of the village of Ilafo, on whose ground a small group of
Auyana speakers have settled, few Usarufa speakers admit to speaking or
understanding Auyana, which is so closely related that the two may be
dialects of one language. The problems of multilingualism will not be dis-
cussed here but there mav be reflections of such multilingualism in the
phonological systems of the speakers involved. Realizing this to be true it
is nevertheless more convenient for purposes of this paper to present the
Usarufa system as though the speakers were monolingual. It may be possible
to use this material as a spring board for investigation of language contact.
The influences of the growing knowledge and use of Neo-Melanesian
(Pidgin English) will also have to be taken into such consideration.

The Languages of the Eastern
Family of the East New Guinea
Highland Stock

Edited by HOWARD McKAUGHAN

This book is published with the assistance of a grant from the National Science
Foundation.

Copyright © 1973 by the University of Washington Press
Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,
or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher.

Anthropological Studies

in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea

James B. Watson, Editor

VOLUMES PUBLISHED:

I. The Languages of the Eastern Family of the East New Guinea Highland
Stock, edited by Howard McKaughan

II. Physical Anthropology of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea,
by R. A. Littlewood

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:

The Languages of the eastern family of the east
New Guinea highland stock.

(Anthropological studies in the eastern highlands
of New Guinea, V, 1)

Reports of research by the New Guinea Micro-
evolution Project.

Bibliography: p.

L Papuan languages. 2, Kainantu region —
Languages. I. McKaughan, Howard, 1922-
IL Title. in. Series.

PL660LA35 499M2 72-13131

ISBN 0-295-95 132-X

ed.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS
SEATTLE AND LONDON