[PapuanLanguages] Summary: Geneses, New Testament and Bibles in Papuan Languages

[Harald Hammarström]

Dear All,
Some weeks ago I posted an inquiry about locating bible 
translations for some Papuan language groups which are otherwise very 
poorly known in published sources. First, let me thank everyone who 
responded with very helpful comments and corrections: Doug Marmion, 
Johanna Fenton, Cynthia Farr, Pip Duley, Tim Schlatter, Stellan Lindrud, 
Linda Krieg and Mark Donohue.

One question was whether there was a central database with bibliographic 
data on Bible(-part) translations. There must be some which covers all 
different bible translators work, but I still don't know this. In the 
meantime, all SIL translations appear in the SILPNG bibliography 
(available in .pdfs from pnglanguages.org) and I was informed that the 
Australian National Library receives copies of all SIL bibles and 
published bible parts. The ANL catalogue is searchable at:
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/
And contains, apart from the SIL bibles, other bible translations
of Papuan languages, but not all.

Another questions was whether Bibles can be bought by outsiders.
At least from SIL, the can be bought from Ukarumpa if there are
copies left in stock, for a cheap price for the material (but for
a high shipping cost). I don't know the exact prices at this time.

Now, for individual languages, see below. I had assumed all genesis
translations available at the Rosetta project were SIL productions,
which is incorrect (again see below).

1. Amto http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/amt/gen-1
Bible portions in Siawi which is the same as Ethnologue Musan and NOT Amto 
(Ethnologue is wrong here to list Siawi as a dialect of Amto), have been 
translated by Linda Krieg et al of the New Tribes Mission. A number of 
books are complete but not the whole NT. I was kindly sent electronic 
copies of the books so far, plus unpolished grammar and phonology 
sketches, from Linda Krieg personally. Others can probably do the same 
(ask me offline for email address).

2. Tabo aka Waia http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/knv/gen-1
A Tabo NT was indeed produced in 2006 by Tim & Karen Schlatter partly 
affiliated to SIL, and there is also a write-up by Tim Schlatter on Tabo 
grammar. I've been told both are available at Ukarumpa.

3. Awin http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/awi/gen-1
Evangelical Church of PNG apparently produced a NT in 1987.
I don't know anymore except that the ANL catalogue has a St Mark
translation from 1968 [search on Aekyom].

4. Bine http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/bon/gen-1
The Bine NT from 1993 is available at ANL. [To find it in
the catalogue, use the ISBN below without the hyphens
(Pub: Bible Society of PNG) ISBN: 9980-63-370-0
There is also a Bine Grammar Essentials 1984 by Lillian Fleischmann
and Sinikka Turpeinen at Ukarumpa.

5. Gogodala http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/ggw/gen-1
The APCM apparently produced an NT in 1981. I don't know the 
bibliographical information. Earlier parts of the bible can be found in 
the ANL catalogue.

6. Iwam, Sepik http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/iws/gen-1
The Sepik Iwam New Testament was published in 1989 by the Bible League.
Former SIL translator Marilyn Laszlo translated it. Available in
ANL.

7. Owiniga: http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/owi/gen-1
The genesis translation comes from NTM. I have no information on
possible further materials.

8. Bun (Yuat River) genesis
A Bun (Yuat River) genesis was listed at Rosetta Project, but this
turned out to be a miscoding of another language (in Africa).

9. Kol
The Kol NT is not finished yet -- it'll be finished in a couple of
years.

10. Karkar-Yuri
NT available at ANL.
@Book{nt:Priceetal:Karkar-Yuri,
   author =       {Dorothy Price and Veda Rigden and Maramia Nkonifa},
   title =        {Kwaromp kwapwe kare kar (God.s truly good talk) [New
Testament]},
   publisher =    {The Bible League, South Holland, Illinois, USA},
   year =         1994,
   pages = {v+902},
   isbn = {0-86893-328-7}
}

11. Damal
CMA translated the NT, and like almost all bible translations in 
Indonesia, there is an affiliation with Lembaga Al-Kitab Indonesia. I 
don't know how to get in touch with Lembaga Al-Kitab in Jakarta but at 
least the Damal NT is avilable in Tembagapura for those who can travel
there.