Mantion–Meax languages

The Mantion–Meax, Mantion–Meyah, or (South) East Bird's Head languages are a language family of three languages in the "Bird's Head Peninsula" of western New Guinea, spoken by all together 20,000 people.

Classification

East Bird's Head stock (3 languages)

• Mantion (Manikion, Sougb)
• Meyah family: Meyah (Meax), Meninggo (Moskona)

Pronouns

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for the proto-language (Usher's Southeast Bird's Head) are:

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary among East Bird's Head languages (Meyah, Moskona, Sougb, Hatam, Mansim) listed in Holton & Klamer (2018). The sets are not necessarily cognate.

Additional East Bird's Head basic vocabulary quoted by Holton & Klamer (2018) from Miedema & Reesink (2004: 34) and (Reesink 2005: 202), showing diverse non-cognate vocabulary across different branches:

See also

• Hatam–Mansim languages
• West Papuan languages

References

Further reading

External links

• East Bird's Head languages database at TransNewGuinea.org