Melpa language

Melpa (also written Medlpa) is a Papuan language spoken by about 130,000 people predominantly in Mount Hagen and the surrounding district of Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

Melpa has a voiceless velar lateral fricative, written as a double-barred el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). It is notable for its binary counting system.

Decimal	Medlpa	Interpretation
1	tenda	"one"
2	ragl	"two"
3	ragltika	"two-one"
4	tembokak	"four"
5	pömp tsi gudl	"one past four"
6	pömp ragl gudl	"two past four"
7	pömp ragltika gudl	"two-one past four"
8	engak	"eight"
9	pömp tsi pip	"one past eight"
10	pömp ragl pip	"two past eight"

External links

• Melpa laterals
• Kay Owens. "The Work of Glendon Lean on the Counting Systems of Papua New Guinea and Oceania", section "The Melpa Counting System". Mathematics Education Research Journal vol. 13 (April 2001), doi:10.1007/BF03217098