Sepik Iwam, or Yawenian, is a language of Papua New Guinea. It is the lexical basis of the Hauna trade pidgin.
| Sepik Iwam | |
|---|---|
| Yawenian | |
| Region | East Sepik Province |
Native speakers | 2,500 (2000 census)[1] |
Sepik
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | iws |
| Glottolog | sepi1255 |
| ELP | Sepik Iwam |
| Coordinates: 4°17′28″S 142°00′36″E / 4.291°S 142.01°E | |
| Hauna pidgin | |
|---|---|
| Region | East Sepik Province |
Native speakers | None |
Iwam-based pidgin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | haun1238 |
It is spoken in villages such as Iniok (4°17′28″S 142°00′36″E / 4.291°S 142.01°E) in Tunap/Hunstein Rural LLG of East Sepik Province.[2][3]
Phonology
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | s | h | |||
| Liquid | r | ||||
| Semivowel | w | j | |||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a |
Pronouns
editSepik Iwam pronouns:[4]: 282
singular dual plural 1st person ka kərar kəram 2nd person kə kow kom 3rd person masculine si sow səm feminine sa
Grammar
editSepik Iwam subject agreement suffixes are:[4]
singular dual plural masculine *-ən *-o *-əm feminine *-a
The structure of this subject agreement paradigm can be traced back to Proto-Sepik, although the morphemes themselves do not seem to be directly related to the reconstructed Proto-Sepik forms. (See also Sepik languages#Gender.)
Like May River Iwam, Sepik Iwam has periodic tense, for instance the matutinal -iyakwok.[5][6]
References
edit- ^ Sepik Iwam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
- ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ Jacques, Guillaume (2023). "Periodic tense markers in the world's languages and their sources". Folia Linguistica. 57 (3): 539–562. doi:10.1515/flin-2023-2013.
- ^ Foley (2018:284)
Further reading
edit- "Organised Phonology Data" (PDF).
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