Iwam language

Last updated
May River Iwam
Region East Sepik Province
Native speakers
(3,000 cited 1998) [1]
Sepik
Language codes
ISO 639-3 iwm
Glottolog iwam1256
ELP May River Iwam
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May River Iwam, often simply referred to as Iwam, is a language of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.

Contents

It is spoken in Iyomempwi ( 4°14′28″S141°53′34″E / 4.24117°S 141.89271°E / -4.24117; 141.89271 (Imombi) ), Mowi ( 4°17′42″S141°55′45″E / 4.294971°S 141.929199°E / -4.294971; 141.929199 (Mowi) ), and Premai villages of Tunap/Hunstein Rural LLG in East Sepik Province, and other villages on the May River. [1] [2]

Phonology

Vowels

Vowels [3]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open a

In non-final positions, /u//o/, /i/, and /e/ are [ ʊ ][ ɔ ], [ ɪ ], and [ ɛ ], respectively. /ə/ appears only in nonfinal syllables. When adjacent to nasal consonants, vowels are nasalized; nasalization may also occur when adjacent to word boundaries. [3]

Consonants

Consonants [3]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p t k
Fricative s h
Flap r
Semivowel j w

/p/ and /k/ are voiced fricatives ([ β ] and [ ɣ ]) respectively) when intervocalic and unreleased when final (/t/ is also unreleased when final). /ŋ/ is a nasal flap ([ ɾ̃ ]) word-initially and between vowels. /s/ is [ ts ] initially and may otherwise be palatalized [ ]. [3] Sequences of any consonant and /w/ are neutralized before /u/ where an offglide is always heard.

Phonotactics

Bilabial and velar consonants and /n/ may be followed by /w/ when initial. Other initial clusters include /pr/, /kr/, /hr/, /hw/, and /hn/ and final clusters are /w/ or /j/ followed by any consonant except for /h/ or /ŋ/. [3]

Pronouns

May River Iwam pronouns: [4] :282

sgdupl
1ka/anikərərkərəm
2kikorkom
3msisorsəm
3fsa

Noun classes

Like the Wogamus languages, May River Iwam has five noun classes: [4]

classsemantic categoryprefixexample
class 1male human referentsnu- (adult males);
ru- (uninitiated or immature males)
yenkam nu-t
man class.1-one
‘one man’
class 2female human, children,
or other animate referents
a(o)-owi a-ois
duck class.2-two
‘two ducks’
class 3large objectskwu-ana kwu-(o)t
hand class.3-one
‘a big hand’
class 4small objectsha-ana ha-(o)t
hand class.4-one
‘a small hand’
class 5long objectshwu-ana hwu-(o)t
hand class.5-one
‘a long hand’

As shown by the example above for ana ‘hand’, a noun can take on different classes depending on the physical characteristics being emphasized.

Verbal morphology

May river Iwam has four periodic tense suffixes: matutinal -yok, diurnal -harok, postmeridial -tep and nocturnal -wae. [5]

Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words of Iwam are from Foley (2005) [6] and Laycock (1968), [7] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database: [8]

glossIwam
headmu
earwun
eyenu
nosenomwos
toothpiknu
tonguekwane
legwərku; wɨrku
louseŋən; nɨn
dognwa
pighu
birdowit
eggyen
bloodni
bonekeew; kew
skinpəw
breastmuy
treepae(kap); paykap
mankam; yen-kam
womanwik
sunpi
moonpwan
waterop; o(p)
firepay
stonesiya
eat(n)ai; (nd)ai
oneoe; ruk; su
twoŋwis

Notes

  1. 1 2 May River Iwam at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Laycock (1965 :115)
  4. 1 2 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.
  5. Foley (2018:286), 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics , 7 (1): 36-66.
  8. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea" . Retrieved 2020-11-05.

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References