Upper Yuat languages
| Upper Yuat | |
|---|---|
| Upper Yuat River | |
| Geographic distribution | Upper
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | None |
The Upper Yuat languages consist of two small language families, namely Arafundi and Piawi, spoken in the region of the upper Yuat River of New Guinea. The connection was first suggested by William A. Foley[2] and confirmed by Timothy Usher, who further links them to the Madang languages.[1]
Upper Yuat languages display more typological similarities with
The Madang languages are frequently included in Trans–New Guinea classifications, but the connection is not yet demonstrated.The Piawi languages are morphologically much simpler than the Arafundi languages.[2]
Pronouns
Pronouns are:[2]
Proto-Upper Yuat pronouns sg pl 1 *ni *an ~ *aŋ 2 *na *ne 3 *nu
The individual languages are as follows:[2]
Harway Hagahai Pinai Lower
ArafundiUpper
ArafundiAwiakay 1sg nɨ-ɡə ŋɨ-ɡə nɨ-ɡa ɲɨŋ niŋ niŋ 2sg na-ɡo na-ɣə na-ɡa nan nan nan 3sg nu-ɡʷə nə-ɣʷə an an 1du as as as 2/3du nɨɲ nen neɲ 1pl an-ɡə an-ɡə nanə-ɡa aŋ aŋ 2/3pl ɲɨ-ɡə ɲe-ɡə ɲi-ɡa noŋ noŋ noŋ
3rd-person *nu (number uncertain) corresponds to Piawi 3 singular and Arafundi 2/3 plural, *ne to Piawi 2/3 plural and Arafundi 2/3 dual.
Phonology
Upper Yuat languages typically have 7 vowels:[2]: 236
i ɨ u e ə o a
References
Further reading
- Davies, J. and Comrie, B. "A linguistic survey of the Upper Yuat". In Adams, K., Lauck, L., Miedema, J., Welling, F., Stokhof, W., Flassy, D., Oguri, H., Collier, K., Gregerson, K., Phinnemore, T., Scorza, D., Davies, J., Comrie, B. and Abbott, S. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 22. A-63:275-312. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985.