Bauzi language

Bauzi
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Papua (Mamberamo Raya)
Ethnicity	Bauzi
Native speakers	(1,500 cited 1991) [1]
Language family	East Geelvink Bay Bauzi–Demisa Bauzi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bvz
Glottolog	bauz1241

Bauzi (also written Baudi, Baudji, Baudzi, Bauri) is a Papuan language of the East Geelvink Bay family spoken in the Indonesian province of Papua.

Dialects are Gesda Dae, Neao, and Aumenefa. Villages are Danau Bira, Itaba, Kustera, Neao, Noiadi, Solom, and Vakiadi. ^[2] It is reported to use a mode of whistled speech.

Bauzi is the best documented East Geelvink Bay language, but may or may not be representative of the Geelvink Bay family as a whole. ^[3]

Phonology

Consonants: ^[3]

	t		k
b	d	ʣ	ɡ
f	s			h
v
m	n
	l

Vowels: ^[3]

i	u
e	o
æ
a

Pronouns

Bauzi pronoun roots are: ^[3]

	sg	pl
1	e-	i-
2	o-	u-
3	a-

Morphology

The two directional suffixes are: ^[3]

• -su ‘toward’
• -to ‘away’

Aspectual suffixes are: ^[3]

• imperfective -da
• perfective -ho
• prospective -lo (homophonous with the verb ‘give’)
• inceptive -le (homophonous with the verb ‘come’)
• conative -so
• resultative/stative -de
• iterative -dete ~ -ia

Verbs

Bauzi verbs that have number agreement for singular and plural: ^{[3] : 521}

• faito ‘cut down [SG.OBJ]’, fikboa ‘cut down [PL.OBJ]’
• valo ‘pull out [SG.OBJ]’, vaomoa ‘pull out [PL.OBJ]’
• esu ‘put [SG.OBJ]’, vahe ‘put [PL.OBJ]’
• ai ‘stay [SG.SBJ], esi ‘stay [PL.SBJ]’
• ita ‘flee [SG.SBJ]’, ili ‘flee [PL.OBJ]’

References

1. Bauzi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Indonesia languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
3. Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest New Guinea". 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. 433–568. ISBN   978-3-11-028642-7.