Busa language (Papuan)

The Busa language, also known as Odiai (Uriai), is spoken in three hamlets of northwestern Papua New Guinea.[3] There were 244 speakers at the time of the 2000 census. One of the hamlets where Busa is spoken is Busa (3.837112°S 141.440227°E / -3.837112; 141.440227 (Busa)) in Rawei ward, Green River Rural LLG, Sandaun Province.[4]

Not to be confused with Busa language (Mande).
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
240 (2000 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3bhf
Glottologodia1239[2]
Coordinates: 3°49′S 141°20′E

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.[3]

Classification

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.[3]

Pronouns

Pronouns are:[3]

Busa basic pronouns
sgpl
1 mumi
2 am
3m a ~ ariti
3f tu

Basic vocabulary

Busa basic vocabulary listed in Foley (2018):[3]

Busa basic vocabulary
glossBusa
‘bad’buriambu
‘bird’wana
‘black’baro
‘breast’nã
‘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

Affixes

Busa subject agreement affixes are:[3]

Busa subject agreement affixes
sgpl
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.[3]

gollark: Heavpoot wanted me to track "average letter frequency", and is also my alt sometimes, but that would be bad for performance probably.
gollark: I'm sure you'd like to think so.
gollark: Maybe I'll implement an average word length function in minoteaur's editor, to spite you, then.
gollark: I did, I think I would know.
gollark: No, I just edited the internet to make it look that way.

References
  1. Busa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Odiai". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. 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. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  4. United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
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