Kambot language

Last updated
Kambot
Ap Ma
Native toPapua New Guinea
Region East Sepik Province
Native speakers
10,000 (2010) [1]
Ramu–Keram
Dialects
  • Kambaramba
Language codes
ISO 639-3 kbx
Glottolog apma1241
ELP Ap Ma

Kambota.k.a.Ap Ma (Ap Ma Botin, Botin, also Karaube), is a Keram language of Papua New Guinea. Compared to its nearest relative, Ambakich, Kambot drops the first segment from polysyllabic words. [2]

Contents

Kambot is spoken in Kambot village ( 4°16′54″S144°08′22″E / 4.281558°S 144.139582°E / -4.281558; 144.139582 (Kambot Comm/School) ), Keram Rural LLG, East Sepik Province. [3] [4]

Classification

Kambot was assigned to the Grass family within Ramu by Laycock and Z'graggen (1975). Foley (2005) finds the data does not support this assignment, but re-adds them to the Grass family in 2018. [5] Foley and Ross (2005) agree that the language belongs to the Ramu – Lower Sepik family. [6] Usher restores it to the Ramu family, but closer to the Mongol–Langam languages.

Phonology

Ap Ma consonants are: [5]

ptk
ᵐbⁿdᶮʤᵑg
mnɲŋ
s
r ~ l
wj

Pronouns

Foley (1986) proposed that Kambot had borrowed its pronouns from the Iatmul language of the Sepik family (Ndu languages). His suggestion was that nyɨ 'I' (1sg), wɨn 'thou' (2sg), and nun 'ye' (2pl) are taken from Iatmul nyɨn 'thou', wɨn 'I', and nɨn 'we', with a crossover of person. That is, the Iatmul may have called the Kambot nyɨn "you", and they then used that pronoun for themselves, resulting in it meaning "I". However, Ross (2005) and Pawley (2005) show that the pronoun set has not been borrowed. The Kambot pronouns are indigenous, as they have apparent cognates in Ramu languages. Similarly, the Iatmul pronouns have not been borrowed from Kambot, as they have cognates in other Ndu languages. [6]

Comparison of Kambot PNs with Ramu languages
PNKambotKambaramba Banaro Langam Arafundi
1sgnyɨni(uŋɡu)ñiñiŋ
2sgwɨnuwo(nan)
2plnun(wɨni)nu(wuni)nuŋ

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.

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Sepik languages</span>

The Upper Sepik languages are a group of ten to a dozen languages generally classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sepik Hill languages</span> Sepik language branch of Papua New Guinea

The Sepik Hill languages form the largest and most ramified branch of the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea. They are spoken along the southern margin of the Sepik floodplain in the foothills of Central Range of south-central East Sepik Province.

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.

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 Yellow River languages are a small family of clearly related languages,

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 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.

The Lower Ramu or Ottilien–Misegian languages consist of two branches in the Ramu language family. They are all spoken in Yawar Rural LLG, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea.

The Wogamus languages are a pair of closely related languages,

References

  1. Kambot at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. "East Keram River - newguineaworld".
  3. 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.
  4. United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  5. 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.
  6. 1 2 Andrew Pawley, 2005, Papuan pasts, p 56.