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Wogamus languages

This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using ((lang)), ((transliteration)) for transliterated languages, and ((IPA)) for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. See why. (June 2021)
Wogamus
Geographic
distribution
Wogamush River, western East Sepik Province, in the Upper Sepik River basin of Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classificationSepik
Glottologwoga1248

The Wogamus languages are a pair of closely related languages,

Wogamusin and Chenapian.[1]

They are classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea; Malcolm Ross and William A. Foley (2018)[2] place them in the Upper Sepik branch of that family.

The Wogamus languages are spoken along the banks of the Wogamush River and Sepik River in western East Sepik Province, just to the east of the Iwam languages.

Noun classes

[edit]

Wogamus languages have noun classes reminiscent of those found in Bantu languages. Noun classes in Wogamusin and Chenapian are listed below, with Wogamusin -um ‘three’ and Chenapian -mu ‘three’ used as examples.[2]

Class no. Semantic category Wogamusin prefix Chenapian prefix Wogamusin example Chenapian example
1 humans s(i)- s(i)- s-um si-mu
2 higher animals: dogs, pigs, etc. r- gw- r-um gw-umu
3 plants, trees, vines, etc. b- b- b-um b-umu
4 no specific pattern h- n- h-um n-əmu
5 no specific pattern ŋgw- kw- ŋgw-um kw-umu

Vocabulary comparison

[edit]

The following basic vocabulary words are from the Trans-New Guinea database.[3] The Wogamusin data is from Foley (2005)[4] and Laycock (1968),[5] and the Chenapian data is from SIL field notes (1983).

gloss Chenapian Wogamusin
head toapᵒ; tuwap towam
hair taoɛnavon; taunabon
ear gwabuo; ugwabə mam
eye džinano; ǰinino li
nose mɨnɨk; munɩk boliŋ
tooth diu; duɨʔ ndəl; ndɨl
tongue taun; ton taliyen
leg soʷanaup; šonawəp su
louse damian; dəmiaʔ tetak
dog gwara; ogwara wal
pig kᵘo; ku
bird džɛosiʔ; ǰɛoši yah
egg noə; ṣⁱu no
blood ne; nᵊe noh
bone dža; ǰa· rubwi
skin bɩn; bön mbe
breast mu; muʔ muk
tree məntəp; montoap mbotom
man tama; tamö tam
woman tauwo; tawö taw
sun džabɨn; ǰaƀan yam
moon nu luh
water džoʔ; ǰoʔ yək; yɨk
fire un kur
stone nogɛrao; noguařo noŋg
road, path uni
name tamgu
one nař; sⁱərəʔ a (M); ed (F)
two ǰⁱək; nɛsi; ṣiṣi nwis

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ Chenapian–Wogamusin, New Guinea World
  2. ^ a b Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  4. ^ Foley, W.A. "Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik-Ramu basin". In Pawley, A., Attenborough, R., Golson, J. and Hide, R. editors, Papuan Pasts: Cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. PL-572:109-144. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2005.
  5. ^ Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66.

References

[edit]
  • Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
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Wogamus languages
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