Dera (Dra, Dla) a.k.a. Mangguar and Kamberataro (Komberatoro) is a Senagi language of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. In Papua New Guinea, it is primarily spoken in Kamberataro village (3°36′43″S 141°03′26″E / 3.611948°S 141.05719°E / -3.611948; 141.05719 (Kamberatoro)), Amanab Rural LLG, Sandaun Province.[1][2]

Dera
Mangguar, Kamberataro
Native toIndonesia, Papua New Guinea
RegionPapua: Keerom Regency, 13 villages
EthnicityDera
Native speakers
1,200 (2006)[1]
Senagi
  • Dera
Language codes
ISO 639-3kbv
Glottologdera1245
ELPDera
Coordinates: 3°36′43″S 141°03′26″E / 3.611948°S 141.05719°E / -3.611948; 141.05719 (Kamberatoro)

Dialects

edit

There are two dialects, namely Dla proper and Menggwa Dla.

Dla proper is spoken in the three main villages of Kamberatoro Mission (3°36′S 141°03′E; 1299 feet) in Papua New Guinea, Amgotro Mission (3°38′S 140°58′E; 1969 feet) and Komando village in Papua Province, Indonesia. Komando village was formerly a Dutch border post. Other Dla proper speaking villages in Papua New Guinea are Tamarbek (3°35′30″S 141°03′18″E / 3.591701°S 141.055114°E / -3.591701; 141.055114 (Tamarbek)), Akamari (3°35′49″S 141°03′33″E / 3.597044°S 141.059233°E / -3.597044; 141.059233 (Akimari 1)), New Kamberatoro; Old Kamberatoro, ‘Border Village’, Nimberatoro (3°37′34″S 141°02′33″E / 3.625973°S 141.042369°E / -3.625973; 141.042369 (Nimberatoro)), Nindebai (3°38′28″S 141°00′22″E / 3.64111°S 141.006033°E / -3.64111; 141.006033 (Nindebai)), Mamamora (3°39′14″S 141°01′13″E / 3.653793°S 141.020182°E / -3.653793; 141.020182 (Mamamura)), Yamamainda (3°40′10″S 141°02′00″E / 3.669519°S 141.033445°E / -3.669519; 141.033445 (Yamamainda)), Orkwanda (3°38′50″S 141°04′52″E / 3.647337°S 141.081231°E / -3.647337; 141.081231 (Orkwanda)), and Lihen (3°37′26″S 141°07′03″E / 3.623834°S 141.117364°E / -3.623834; 141.117364 (Lihen)). While Papua Province in Indonesia has the Dla villages of Amgotro, Komando, Indangan, Mongwefi, Buku, and Agrinda, which are mostly located in Yaffi District, Keerom Regency.[3]

Menggwa Dla, the less populous of the two dialects, is spoken in five villages located between Kamberatoro Mission and Komando village, which are Menggau, Wahai (3°34′51″S 141°01′45″E / 3.580863°S 141.029277°E / -3.580863; 141.029277 (Wahai)), Ambofahwa (alternatively known as Wahai Nº 2), Wanggurinda (3°34′49″S 141°01′43″E / 3.580396°S 141.028671°E / -3.580396; 141.028671 (Wagurinda); 3°34′59″S, 141°01′41″E) in Papua New Guinea, and Menggwal (3°33′53″S, 140°59′04″E) in Papua Province, Indonesia.[3]

Status

edit

Dla (Dera) speakers are shifting to Tok Pisin and Papuan Malay. De Sousa (2006) reports that the younger generation born in the 1990s or later usually cannot speak Dera fluently, whereas the older generation remains fluent.[3]

Phonology

edit

Dera has 14 consonants (4 less than Angor), which are:[4]

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative ɸ s x
Liquid r
Semivowel w j

Dera has 5 vowels (2 less than Angor), which are:[4]

FrontBack
Close iu
Mid eo
Open a

Vocabulary comparison

edit

The following basic vocabulary words of Dera dialects are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975),[5][6] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[7]

glossDera (Amgotro dialect)Dera (Moŋgowar dialect)Dera (Amgotro dialect)
head bodabapaleboda
hair nanadanenalenanada
ear kumbo- kedagombo-galakumbo- keda
eye kumba- kwadakamba-galakumba- kwada
nose gutubudamorgutubu
tooth jabo-gemdadjabojabo-gemda
tongue tabuteptabu
louse manəmavemanə
dog jabodojabodo
pig wadəwadə
bird dutudu
egg dogomdatugaboladogomda
blood kodoaholakodoa
bone gemdasabagemda
skin kuedakiabakueda
breast tototututoto
tree namo; nomoagalanamo; nomo
man jani- ndiajanijani- ndia
woman kuadedebokolbakekuadedebo
sun kəbugəfukəbu
moon amanaanamamana
water kuegəweikue
fire kaikaikai
stone nəmainiminəmai
road, path bakodabakoda
name dia
eat tato-hede-tato-
one mano; ŋguadumamumano; ŋguadu
two imbujimbalimbu

References

edit
  1. 1 2 Dera at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  3. 1 2 3 de Sousa, Hilário (2006). The Menggwa Dla language of New Guinea (Doctoral dissertation). University of Sydney.
  4. 1 2 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. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  5. Voorhoeve, C.L. "Miscellaneous Notes on Languages in West Irian, New Guinea". In Dutton, T., Voorhoeve, C. and Wurm, S.A. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 14. A-28:47-114. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971. doi:10.15144/PL-A28.47
  6. Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-B31
  7. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.