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Idan:

a hidden language variety

steps into the open

(Pahoturi River family)

Catherine Scanlon, University of California Santa Barbara

Current Trends in Papuan Linguistics, 16 February 2023, Paris

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“Idan language was covered, it hid right underneath…

but now Idan language is coming to reform.”

- Bomso Maikong

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Background

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The Pahoturi River Family

Pahoturi River language family

Idi
Taeme
Agob
Em
Ende
Kawam
(Idzuwe)
And now: Idan
+ other varieties that might not be currently spoken

See Lindsey et al. 2022

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Language ecology in the region

Small-scale multilingualism (“egalitarian multilingualism”)
Sister-exchange marriage
Widespread knowledge of English

school, church

Until fairly recently, people lived in smaller groups

→ larger villages near the road at the request of colonial Australian administrators

See Schokkin 2021

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Bomso Maikong

Chief of Malam,

a primarily Ende-speaking village

Me: “What’s your primary language?”

Bomso:

“Idan.”

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My materials

Yamfinder word list
A few recordings in Idan, Ende, and English, all by Bomso

story of how Idan people went out from their land
story of his mother’s life and origins

A few conversations with Bomso and others
Very preliminary!

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Linguistic overview

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Idan

Idan means ‘what’, typical in the region
Closely related to Taeme
Spoken in Kuiwang, along with Taeme
I heard about it in Malam

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Yamfinder list: % cognate

386 categories, basic vocabulary
Specifically for Southern New Guinea
Method: binary count for each category — cognate or not
Different methodology → lower percentages than those in Lindsey et al. (2022), but the trends are the same

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Key point: varieties with different names may be

more similar than varieties known under the same name

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Notes on Idan phonology

Prenasalization of initial stops
Variable pronunciation as in Ende, Idi (Lindsey 2021, Schokkin 2021)

/z/
aspiration/affrication of the phonemes that correspond to retroflex stops in Ende

/æ/
liquids… not so simple

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Pahoturi River liquids

Table adapted from

Lindsey et al. 2022

	Proto PR	Idan	Idi	Taeme	Kawam	Ende	Em	Agob
‘good’	*r	ɾ	r	r	r	r	r	r
‘how many’	*l	l	l	l	l	l	l	l
‘copulate’	*ʎ	ʎ (l?)	ʎ	ʎ	l	l	l	l
‘man’	*ɽ	l (?)	l	l	r	ɽ	ɽ	ɽ
‘canoe’	*ʀ	l	l	ʎ	r	ɽ	ɽ	ɽ

More examples with *ʎ: And with *ɽ:

‘wrong’ ‘bow’ ‘fly’ (v)

‘purple yam’ ‘straight’ ‘fingernail’ (two words)

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Story time:

How Idan people went out from their land

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Story time: How Idan people went out from their land

Told by Bomso Maikong, 2022

Legend of Mik Darsi and the gardens in the sky
Personal reasons for leaving Idan land
What happened (and is happening) with the language

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Taking over a place with language

Languages mentioned as going inside Idan land: Idi, Taeme, Ende

i.e. the neighboring languages

→ Idan conceptually distinct from Taeme

Not mentioned: English
Even though the English words take over are used
Note eka can be translated as both ‘word’ and ‘language’

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Idan language and Idan land

In some sense Idan language is still there, hidden underneath
Meanwhile it has also moved out to other places, with its speakers
“Reforming” Idan language means

bringing it out from hiding, into the open
and bringing it back to Idan land

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In practice, what does it mean for Idan to be a hidden language?

Some Ende speakers in Limol had never heard of it

despite being close contacts of Bomso and his wife, who speak Idan at home

But those from Kwiwang confirm Idan is distinct from Taeme

(extremely small sample size)

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Another story: Bomso’s mother’s origins

A man from where the Ende language began, living in Agob tribe, fathered a child (a girl).
She grew up and gave birth to a baby (a girl) in Idzuwe tribe.
That baby was raised by the people of Idan tribe and married a man from Idan tribe.
Together, the couple left Idan tribe and moved to Ende tribe, where they had a large family.
Bomso, their son, is now chief of Malam village in Ende tribe.

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Key questions going forward

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How do language names function in PNG?

It’s important to understand language varieties and their shifts in local terms
There is endless linguistic variation, but only some is associated with a name, origin stories, etc.

Vaughan et al. 2022, detailed study of language naming practices in Arnhem Land in Australia

A start in PNG: Mülhäuser 2006, Schokkin 2021

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2. What are the processes of language shift, including revitalization, in contexts of small-scale multilingualism?

Small-scale multilingualism and mobility of individuals → constant language shift

Including consciously revitalizing a variety

Important, understudied piece in understanding language ecologies that sustain linguistic diversity

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3. How have recent events changed the dynamics?

Colonial changes: larger villages, chiefs, etc. — what about understandings of language and identity?
Role of English in current language use and language ideologies

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One more thing!

Request for a linguist: Abom language

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Thank you to

Bomso Maikong
Wagiba Geser, my host mother in PNG
The Endangered Material Knowledge Programme, who funded this work
My UCSB colleagues for their comments and suggestions
And the many others who have helped me along the way

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References

Carroll, Matthew J., Nicholas Evans, I. Wayan Arka, Christian Döhler, Eri Kashima, Volker Gast, Tina Gregor, Kate L. Lindsey, Julia

Miller, Emil Mittag, Bruno Olsson, Dineke Schokkin, Jeff Siegel, Charlotte van Tongeren, Kyla Quinn. 2016. Yamfinder:

Southern New Guinea Lexical Database. http://yamfinder.com/

Evans, Nicholas, Wayan Arka, Matthew Carroll, Yun Jung Choi, Christian Döhler, Volker Gast, Eri Kashima, Emil Mittag, Bruno

Olsson, Kyla Quinn, Dineke Schokkin, Philip Tama, Charlotte van Tongeren and Jeff Siegel. 2017. “The Languages of

Southern New Guinea.” In The Languages and Linguistics of New Guinea: A Comprehensive Guide, edited by Bill Palmer.

Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.

Lindsey, Kate L. 2021. "Oration and variable /n/-realisation in Ende." In Eri Kashima & Miriam Meyerhoff (Eds.), Asia-Pacific

Language Variation. 7.1. 30-61.

Lindsey, Kate L., Dineke Schokkin, & Nairan Wu. 2022. The Pahoturi River language family, with special reference to its verbal

puzzles. Linguistic Typology.

Mülhäuser, Peter. 2002. “Naming languages, drawing language boundaries, and maintaining languages with special reference to the linguistic

situation in Papua New Guinea.” In Language Diversity in the Pacific: Endangerment and Survival, edited by Denis Cunningham, David

E. Ingram and Kenneth Sumbuk, Bristol.

Schokkin D. 2021. “The integration of languages and society: A view from multilingual Southern New Guinea.” In Aikhenvald AY;

Dixon RMW; Jarkey N (Ed.), The Integration of Language and Society: A Cross-Linguistic Typology: 288-311. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

Schokkin, Dineke. 2021. "Variable realisation of verb-final /n/ in Idi." In Eri Kashima & Miriam Meyerhoff (Eds.), Asia-Pacific

Language Variation. 7.1. 1-29.

Vaughan, Jill, Singer, Ruth and Garde, Murray. 2022. Language naming in Indigenous Australia: a view from western Arnhem Land. Multilingua, vol.

42, no. 1, 2023, pp. 83-118.