Mantion-Meax
East Bird's Head
Geographic distribution	Papua
Linguistic classification	West Papuan? (extended) East Bird's Head Mantion-Meax
Subdivisions	Mantion Meax
Glottolog	east1459
East Bird's Head languages (in red)

The Mantion-Meax 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)
• Meax family: Meax (Meyah), Meninggo (Moskona)

Pronouns

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

	Number
Person	Singular	Plural
		exclusive	inclusive
1st	*da, *di-	*meme, *me-	*mimi, *mi-
2nd	*ba, *bi-	*ia, *i-
3rd	*e, *-	*rua, *ri-

Basic vocabulary

Lexical similarities among East Bird's Head languages (Meyah, Moskona, Sougb, Hatam, Mansim) listed in Holton & Klamer (2018):^[1]

East Bird's Head family basic vocabulary

gloss	Meyah	Moskona	Sougb	Hatam	Mansim
'bird'	mem	mem	ba	hab	waw
'louse'	mej	mej	mem	mem
'one'	egens	erges	hom	gom	wom
'night'	motu	mot	loba	mmun
'I'	didif	dif	dan	dani	danu

Additional East Bird's Head basic vocabulary quoted by Holton & Klamer (2018)^[1] from Miedema & Reesink (2004: 34) and (Reesink 2005: 202), showing diverse non-cognate vocabulary across different branches:^[2][3]

Additional East Bird's Head basic vocabulary

gloss	Meyah	Moskona	Sougb	Hatam
arm/hand	etma	etma	s(i)ra	ndab
leg/foot	aki	egak/oko	ohora	mig
house	mod	mod	tu	ig
good	oufa	ojfa	eigouh	kei
dog	mes	mes	mihi	nsien
pig	mek	mek	hwej	nab
chicken	mongkukar	memkoar	berougb	guri
louse	mej	mej	mem	mem
water/river	mei	mij	uhu	nyei
banana		meni	nej	wida

The following basic vocabulary words are from the Trans-New Guinea database:^[4]

gloss	Manikion	Meyah	Meyah (Akrin dialect)	Meyah (Mumbrani dialect)	Meyah (Etskebi dialect)	Meyah (Miun dialect)	Meyah (Anason dialect)	Moskona	Moskona (Merdey dialect)
head	mogt	ibirfa	méwifa	mi:fa	méwèr	èwit	iwir	ibre	biwèr
hair	mokodi	feji	méwifesi	mi:fèsyi	meyfreits	iwirèfes	iwirèreys	feja	biwèrfesyé
eye	ma-i resi	itec	yetèts	mitèt	eytet(s)	mèntèt	mèteys	iteja	bitèts
tooth	mokta	bufon	mufon	mufon	bufon(afon)	fon	mefon	ifon	mu(o)fuon
leg	mohoti-mu?	maki	maki	ma:ki	meyak	ipèk	ikak	igaka	daki
louse	kuta	mec	mè:t	mè(i)t(s)	meys	mais	meys	meyds	mèts
dog	mehi	mes	mès	mès	mèt(y)	mèyt	mèt		mès
pig	hweij	mek	mèk	mèk -ui; mèk-us	mèk	mèk	mè:k		mèk
bird	ba	mem	mèm	mèm	mèm	mèm	me:m	mem	mèm
egg	mo?wu?	ofou	òfeu	afo(i) ofo(i)	mémafu(i)	afe:	efi:	ofug	ofow
blood	mokuhi	mugufu	okguwu	m(u)fora	-axof	aguf	agof	ifugwa	oxwofi
bone	mori	mofora	acfora	(m)ogu(e)	afar	or	c(a)fon	ikofa	ofora
skin	mos	mofos	a(o)wos	muos	menkar	afuots	awuot(y)	mosho	muos
tree	sako	merga	mèga	òkàwu(n)	merga	apow	akow	mergowoho	okow
man	giji	nuna	dusnok	mona	i:s	isosk	isnok	eris	runa
sun	idesi; igda	mowa	mowa	mauwa	mauw	mouw	mauwa	mau	mou
water	tohu	mei	mey	mey	mi:	mey	miy	mei	mey
fire	smow	mowoxo	ma:x	ma:x	merax	ma:x	merax	merah	mèrax
stone	idahabu	mamu	mamu	mami	mox(w)om	mekom	maukom	mamo	muosgoni
name	moxo	mofoka	dufòkah	mufaka	bou(y)ok	ifap	iwuok	iwoko	buoka
eat	eth	etmar	mit	mi:t	mièt	mit	menèt	itmar	bitmar
one	hom	ergens	èrgèns	èrgèns	èrgèns	afims	arfins	erges	èrgèns
two	huay	ergek	ègeka	èrgèk	argak	afik	èrfik	ergak	ergak

See also

• Hatam-Mansim languages
• West Papuan languages

References

Further reading

• Reesink, Ger P. (2002). "The Eastern Bird's Head Languages Compared". In Ger P. Reesink (ed.). Languages of the Eastern Bird's Head. Pacific Linguistics. 524. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 1-44. hdl:1885/146144.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

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