Pauwasi languages
Pauwasi | |
---|---|
Pauwasi River | |
Geographic distribution | West New Guinea, Papua New Guinea |
Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
Subdivisions | |
Glottolog | pauw1244 |
The Pauwasi languages are a likely family of Papuan languages, mostly in Indonesia. The subfamilies are at best only distantly related. The best described Pauwasi language is Karkar, across the border in Papua New Guinea. They are spoken around the headwaters of the Pauwasi River in the Indonesian-PNG border region.
Based on earlier work, the East and West Pauwasi languages of Indonesia were classified together in Wurm (1975), though he (and later researchers) did not recognize that Yuri (Karkar) of Papua New Guinea was also East Pauwasi. That connection was made by Usher, though anthropologists had long known of the connection. Later the South Pauwasi languages were also identified by Usher, and the West Pauwasi family tentatively expanded.[1] Wichmann (2013), Foley (2018) and Pawley & Hammarström (2018), noting the sharp differences among the three groups, are agnostic about whether West Pauwasi, East Pauwasi and South Pauwasi are related.[2][3][4]
Languages
- Pauwasi River[1]
- East
- Yafi(Zorop)
- West
- Dubu (Tebi), Towei
- Namla–Tofanma
- Usku (Afra)
- Yetfa–South
- Yetfa
- South
- ? Molof (Poule)
- East
The inclusion of Molof (Poule) is especially tentative (as of 2020).[5]
The languages are not close: though the Eastern languages are clearly related, Yafi and Emumu are only 25% lexically similar. Pawley and Hammarström (2018) also question whether Eastern Pauwasi and Western Pauwasi are really related. They also note that Tebi and Towei are very different from each other, and may not necessarily group with each other.[3]
Karkar-Yuri, long thought to be an isolate in Papua New Guinea, is clearly related and may actually form a dialect continuum with Emumu in Indonesia. On the other hand, the Western languages are so poorly attested that it is not certain that they are part of the Pauwasi family (or even related to each other), or if the common words are loans and they constitute a separate family or families, though a family connection appears likely.[6]
The proto-forms of the pronouns have not been reconstructed. Attested forms include:
1sg | 2sg | 1pl | 2pl | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
West | Dubu (Tebi) | no, nok | fo, fro | numu, nəmu | nimia, nəmia |
Towei | ŋo, oŋgo | fo, u, ŋgo | nu | yu- | |
Afra (Usku) | o-, a- | po-, pu- | no | so | |
Namla | na | wuŋgiknoko | mani | yuka | |
Tofamna 1 | ne | wo | INCL ŋu EXCL nukwe |
dule | |
Tofamna 2 | niawi | wame | INCL mlo EXCL wone |
||
East | Yafi (Zorop) | nam | nem, nəm, am | nin | nin-, nəm- |
Emumu (Emem) | (w)ɔna(o) | mo, mao | ninao, nino | nimao, nəmou | |
Karkar | ɔnɔ | amɔ | yino, namo | yumo, yimung | |
South | Yetfa | nawo, nya(wo) | powo, pa | no(wo), nana | so, sef- |
Kimki | win | (p)ume | name, nar | same | |
Murkim | nuːk | hak(o) | nakme(-re) | sakme-re | |
Molof (Poule) | məik, mai | in, ni | ti-PL (INCL also inte) |
in-PL |
Yafi and Emumu are similar, and Dubu and Towei may share 1pl *numu, but there is not apparent connection between them. Dubu no and Yafi nam might reflect pTNG *na, and Towei ngo pTNG *ga (*nga), and the plural pTNG *nu and *ni.
Classification
Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for the Pauwasi languages to be classified as part of
- Tebi ne ‘eat’ < *na-
- Tebi mi, Yafi yemar ‘louse’ < *iman, *niman
Foley (2018) notes that Western Pauwasi has more Trans-New Guinea lexical similarities than East Pauwasi does. He notes that Karkar-Yuri shares some typological similarities with the Trans-New Guinea languages, which could be due to chance, contact, or genetic inheritance.[4]
References
- ^ a b New Guinea World
- ^ Wichmann, Søren. 2013. A classification of Papuan languages. In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313-386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- ^ NewGuineaWorld, Poule
- ^ Harald Hammarström, 2010. The status of the least documented language families in the world
- OCLC 67292782.
Further reading
- Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-B31
- Voorhoeve, C.L. "Miscellaneous Notes on Languages in West Irian, New Guinea". In Dutton, T., Voorhoeve, C. and Wurm, S.A. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 14. A-28:47-114. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971.
- Galis, Klaas Wilhelm. 1956. Ethnologische Survey van het Jafi-district (Onderafdeling Hollandia) [Ethnographic Survey of the Jafi-District (Hollandia Subdivision)]. Hollandia: Gouvernement van Nederlands Nieuw-Guinea. (contains word lists of both the West Pauwasi and East Pauwasi languages)
External links
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