Baining languages
Encyclopedia
The Baining or East New Britain languages are a small language family
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...

 spoken by the Baining people on the island of New Britain
New Britain
New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...

 in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

. They were classified as East Papuan languages
East Papuan languages
*Baining family*North Bougainville family — Bougainville*South Bougainville family — Bougainville*Central Solomon family...

 by Wurm, but this does not now seem tenable.

The languages are:
  • Baining proper: Mali
    Mali language
    Mali or Gaktai is a Papuan language spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea....

    , Qaqet
    Qaqet language
    Qaqet is a Papuan language spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea....

    , Kairak, Simbali, Ura
    Ura language (Papua New Guinea)
    Ura is a Papuan language spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Uramät is the autonym of the people....

    , Makolkol
    Makolkol language
    Makolkol is an extinct Papuan language formerly spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea....

     (extinct)
  • Taulil: Taulil
    Taulil language
    Taulil is a Papuan language spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea....

    , Butam
    Butam language
    Butam is an extinct Papuan language spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Lingist List classifies it as a dialect of Taulil....

    (extinct)

Pronouns

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Baining are,
I *ŋa we two *(ŋ)un we *udu
thou *ŋi you two *yu you *ŋan
he *(k)a they two (M) *ip they *ta
she *(k)e they two (F) ?


The possessive pronouns his and her are *vat and *vet.

External links

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