Papuan language of Indonesian New Guinea (Papua)
Grand Valley Dani, or simply Dani, is one of the most populous Papuan languages in Indonesian New Guinea (also known as Papua). The Dani people live in the Baliem Valley of the Western Highlands.
Dialects.
Dialectical differentiation is great enough that "Ethnologue" assigns separate codes to three varieties:
Lower Grand Valley Dani contains subdialects Lower Grand Valley Hitigima (Dani-Kurima, Kurima), Upper Bele, Lower Bele, Lower Kimbin (Kibin), and Upper Pyramid. Hupla, traditionally considered a separate language, is closer to Lower Grand Valley than the varieties of Grand Valley Dani are to each other.
Phonology.
Grand Valley Dani has established its own orthography during a conference between linguists of the Dutch New Guinea government and different missionary bodies in February 1961. This is the phonology of the Central Grand Valley Dani language:
Consonants.
Unlike other orthographies of local languages in Indonesia (largely based on the standard orthography), the original Grand Valley Dani orthography (the current one might be not known) has "j" instead of "y", in common with the Indonesian old spelling.
Grammar.
Verbs.
Verbs in Grand Valley Dani are highly inflected for many tenses. Infinitive is marked by the suffix "-in", although verb stems in "-s-" change to "-t-" before consonants: "wetasin" "to roast", but "wetathy" "I roasted".
Finite tenses.
Although there are claimed "default" personal markers, the correspondences between tense suffixes and personal markers are often highly irregular. Nevertheless, inflections of verbs are still highly regular. Unless denoted in the table, verb forms are marked by personal markers.
Semantics.
The Dani language differentiates only two basic colours, "mili" for cool/dark shades such as blue, green, and black, and "mola" for warm/light colours such as red, yellow, and white. This trait makes it an interesting field of research for language psychologists, such as Eleanor Rosch, investigating the Whorf hypothesis.
References.
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