Grass languages

Last updated
Grass
(dubious)
Geographic
distribution		 East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification Ramu–Lower Sepik
Subdivisions
Glottolog None

The Grass languages are a group of languages in the Ramu language family. It is accepted by Foley (2018), but not by Glottolog. They are spoken in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, with a small number of speakers also located just across the provincial border in Madang Province.

Contents

External relationships

Foley (2018) notes that Grass languages share very few lexical items with the other Ramu languages, with virtually no lexical cognates Banaro and Ap Ma. However, the Grass languages are still classified as Ramu due to widely shared morphosyntax and typology. [1] Foley (2018: 205) leaves open the possibility of Grass being a third branch of the Lower Sepik-Ramu family, with Lower Sepik and Ramu being sister branches.

Like the neighboring Yuat languages, Grass languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first person pronouns, a feature not found in most other Papuan languages. This typological feature has diffused from Yuat into the Grass languages. [1]

Classifications

The original Grass language proposal, also known as Keram, included several languages, such as Banaro and Kambot (Ap Ma), that are no longer thought to be closely related to Adjora and Gorovu.

Laycock (1973)

Laycock (1973) rejected Kambot and noted that Banaro was lexically divergent, and therefore grouped it with the Grass family in a higher-level Grass stock, [2] a position accepted by Pawley (2005). [3]

Grass/Keram (Laycock)

Usher (2018)

Timothy Usher (as reported in Glottolog ) broke it up still further, with only Abu (Adora) and Gorovu kept together (in a "Porapora River" or "Agoan" branch), [4] Aion (Ambakich) and Kambot (Ap Ma) grouped with the Mongol–Langam languages, and Banaro left as a primary branch of Ramu proper. [5]

Foley (2018)

Foley (2018) provides the following classification. [1]

Foley (2005) [6] did not include the Koam languages within Grass, but added them to Grass in 2018.

Related Research Articles

The Sepik–Ramu languages are an obsolete language family of New Guinea linking the Sepik, Ramu, Nor–Pondo, Leonhard Schultze (Walio–Papi) and Yuat families, together with the Taiap language isolate, and proposed by Donald Laycock and John Z'graggen in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torricelli languages</span> Language family

The Torricelli languages are a family of about fifty languages of the northern Papua New Guinea coast, spoken by about 80,000 people. They are named after the Torricelli Mountains. The most populous and best known Torricelli language is Arapesh, with about 30,000 speakers.

The Ramu–Lower Sepika.k.a.Lower Sepik–Ramu languages are a proposed family of about 35 Papuan languages spoken in the Ramu and Sepik river basins of northern Papua New Guinea. These languages tend to have simple phonologies, with few consonants or vowels and usually no tones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sepik languages</span> Papuan language family

The Sepik or Sepik River languages are a family of some 50 Papuan languages spoken in the Sepik river basin of northern Papua New Guinea, proposed by Donald Laycock in 1965 in a somewhat more limited form than presented here. They tend to have simple phonologies, with few consonants or vowels and usually no tones.

The Yuat languages are an independent family of five Papuan languages spoken along the Yuat River in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. They are an independent family in the classification of Malcolm Ross, but are included in Stephen Wurm's Sepik–Ramu proposal. However, Foley and Ross could find no lexical or morphological evidence that they are related to the Sepik or Ramu languages.

The Ndu languages are the best known family of the Sepik languages of East Sepik Province in northern Papua New Guinea. Ndu is the word for 'man' in the languages that make up this group. The languages were first identified as a related family by Kirschbaum in 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Sepik languages</span> Language family of Papua New Guinea

The Lower Sepik a.k.a. Nor–Pondo languages are a small language family of East Sepik Province in northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by K Laumann in 1951 under the name Nor–Pondo, and included in Donald Laycock's now-defunct 1973 Sepik–Ramu family.

The Ramu languages are a family of some thirty languages of Northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by John Z'graggen in 1971 and linked with the Sepik languages by Donald Laycock two years later. Malcolm Ross (2005) classifies them as one branch of a Ramu – Lower Sepik language family. Z'graggen had included the Yuat languages, but that now seems doubtful.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Sepik languages</span> Groups of Sepik languages

The Middle Sepik languages comprise diverse groups of Sepik languages spoken in northern Papua New Guinea. The Middle Sepik grouping is provisionally accepted by Foley (2018) based on shared innovations in pronouns, but is divided by Glottolog. They are spoken in areas surrounding the town of Ambunti in East Sepik Province.

The Ottilien or Watam-Awar-Gamay languages are a small family of clearly related languages,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tama languages</span> Small family of languages of northern Papua New Guinea

The Tama languages are a small family of three clusters of closely related languages of northern Papua New Guinea, spoken just to the south of Nuku town in eastern Sandaun Province. They are classified as subgroup of the Sepik languages. Tama is the word for 'man' in the languages that make up this group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ram languages</span> Language family spoken in Papua New Guinea

The Ram languages are a small group of 3 languages spoken in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. They are spoken directly to the northeast of the Yellow River languages and directly to the south of the Wapei languages, both of which are also Sepik groups. Ram is the word for 'man' in the languages that make up this group.

The Iwam languages are a small family of two clearly related languages, May River Iwam and Sepik Iwam are generally classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea; Malcolm Ross places them in an Upper Sepik branch of that family.

The Nukuma languages are a small family of three clearly related languages:

The Papi and Asaba languages form a small family of two somewhat distantly related languages of northern Papua New Guinea, namely Papi and Suarmin (Asaba).

The Mongol–Langam, Koam, or Ulmapo languages are a language group of Keram Rural LLG, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea belonging to the Ramu language family. Foley (2018) includes them within the Grass languages, but they were not included in Foley (2005).

The Arafundi languages are a small family of clearly related languages in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. They are conjectured to be related to the Piawi and Madang languages. They are named after the Arafundi River.

Kambota.k.a.Ap Ma, is a Keram language of Papua New Guinea. Compared to its nearest relative, Ambakich, Kambot drops the first segment from polysyllabic words.

The Wogamus languages are a pair of closely related languages,

The Porapora languages are a pair of closely related languages in the Ramu language family, Gorovu and Adjora (Abu), spoken along the border of East Sepik Province and Madang Province in Papua New Guinea. Foley classifies them as part of the Grass group of languages, but Usher break up the Grass languages. Foley (2018) included Aion (Ambakich) as well, but it has since been shown to be one of the Keram languages.

References

  1. 1 2 3 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.
  2. ↑ Donald C. Laycock, 1973. "Sepik languages: checklist and preliminary classification". Pacific linguistics, Series B, Issue 25. Australian National University, Department of Linguistics.
  3. ↑ Andrew Pawley, 2005, Papuan pasts
  4. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Agoan". Glottolog 3.0 . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  5. ↑ "Ramu and Keram Rivers - newguineaworld".
  6. ↑ Foley, William A. (2005). "Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik-Ramu basin". 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. 109–144. ISBN   0858835622. OCLC   67292782.
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