Typological and historical discovery through language documentation of Walman, Srenge, Aro, and Eho, four critically endangered languages

About one fifth of the languages of the world (that is, over 1200 languages) are spoken in New Guinea. This is more than all the languages of mainland Europe and Asia combined. Yet fewer than 5% of the languages of New Guinea have been described in any detail and for the majority, we know next to nothing. We know from past experience that New Guinean languages exhibit rare typological features through which we can understand better how language changes through time and how language systems are organized. We must document these features now as many of the languages of New Guinea are seriously endangered and are no longer being learned by young children. Probably a majority of the languages of New Guinea will be extinct or almost extinct by the end of this century. Language is the most complex form of human behavior, but for every language that become extinct, we forever lose knowledge about this essential part of what it means to be human. Matthew Dryer of SUNY at Buffalo along with linguist Pamela Brown and two graduate students will conduct fieldwork in northern New Guinea in or near the Torricelli Mountains. They will complete or create dictionaries, grammars and texts collections for four languages, Walman, Srenge, Aro, and Eho, all of which are of the Torricelli group. The documentation will include descriptions of complex verbal conjunction, typologically unusual infixation patterns, and variations in word order that are determined by the object's thematic role. The data collected from this project will be accessible from the Endangered Languages Archive.