Teberan languages

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title: "Teberan languages" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["teberan-languages", "languages-of-papua-new-guinea", "teberan–pawaian-languages"] description: "Papuan language family" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teberan_languages" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Papuan language family ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language family"]

Field	Value
name	Teberan
altname	Dadibi–Folopa
region	Papua New Guinea
familycolor	Papuan
fam1	Papuan Gulf?
fam2	Teberan–Pawaian
child1	Dadibi
child2	Folopa (Podopa)
glotto	tebe1251
glottorefname	Teberan
map	Teberan languages.svg
mapcaption	Map: The Teberan languages of New Guinea
::

|name=Teberan |altname=Dadibi–Folopa |region=Papua New Guinea |familycolor=Papuan |fam1=Papuan Gulf? |fam2=Teberan–Pawaian |child1=Dadibi |child2=Folopa (Podopa) |glotto=tebe1251 |glottorefname=Teberan |map=Teberan languages.svg |mapcaption=Map: The Teberan languages of New Guinea

The Teberan languages are a well established family of Papuan languages that Stephen Wurm (1975) grouped with the Pawaia language as a branch of the Trans–New Guinea phylum.

There are two Teberan languages, Dadibi and Folopa (Podopa). They are spoken in Southern Highlands Province and in adjoining provinces.

Classification

Malcolm Ross (2005) tentatively retains both Teberan and Pawaia within TNG, but sees no other connection between them. Noting insufficient evidence, Pawley and Hammarström (2018) tentatively leave Teberan as unclassified rather than as part of Trans-New Guinea.

Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for Teberan to be classified as part of Trans-New Guinea, though they do note the following lexical resemblances between the Teberan languages and proto-Trans-New Guinea.

Dadibi:

• ami ‘breast’

Folopa:

• kabu ‘stone’
• kolemane ‘star’
• kile ‘eye’

According to Dryer (2022), based on a preliminary quantitative analysis of data from the ASJP database, Teberan is likely to be a subgroup of Trans–New Guinea.

Vocabulary comparison

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:

:{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Proto-Dadibi-Folopa !! Dadibi !! Folopa |- ! head | *tobo || tobo-lu || tobo |- ! hair/feather | *ni[g]i || nisi || niki |- ! ear/hear | *[w]odzo || olo ~ odo- || woso 'hear'; woseni 'ear' |- ! eye | *ge[…] || ge-du || kele |- ! nose | *gun… || guni || gunumu; kurumu |- ! tongue | *kamina || hamina || |- ! bone | *di[l/r]i || dili || diri |- ! skin/bark | *wadz[i/e] || wali || wase |- ! breast | *ame || ame || ame |- ! dog | *j[o]wi || jowi ~ juwi || juwi |- ! pig | *kibu || kibu || hupu |- ! bird | *ba || ba || ba |- ! egg/seed | *ge || ge || ke |- ! tree/wood | *ni || ni || ni |- ! woman/female | *so || so || so |- ! sun/day | *s[u]g[a] || sogo || suka |- ! water | *wẽi || wẽ || wẽi |- ! fire/sun | *si[a] || sia || si |- ! path/door | *tũ || tũ || tũ ~ tu |- ! eat/drink | *nV- || || n-/nuku- (present) |- ! one/another | *me || me || me |}

References

References

1. [https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/papuan-gulf/tua-river New Guinea World, Tua River]
2. (2018). "The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide". De Gruyter Mouton.
3. Dryer, Matthew S.. (2022). "Trans-New Guinea IV.2: Evaluating Membership in Trans-New Guinea".
4. Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, [https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/papuan-gulf/tua-river/dadibi-folopa Proto–Dadibi–Folopa]

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