Skou language

Skou
Skou
Tumawo
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Muara Tami District [ id ], Jayapura City
Native speakers	(700 cited 1999)
Language family	Skou Western Skou; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	skv
Glottolog	nucl1634
ELP	Skou

Last updated December 01, 2025

Skou (Sekol, Sekou, Sko, Skouw, Skow, Sukou), or Tumawo (Te Mawo), is a Papuan language of Indonesia.

Distribution

Skou is spoken in three villages of Muara Tami District [ id ], Jayapura City. The villages are:^[2]

Skou Yambe [ id ] (Skou name: Te Tángpe), the westernmost and most populous Skou village
Skou Mabo [ id ] (Skou name: Te Máwo), located between Skou Yambe and Skou Sae villages
Skou Sae [ id ] (Skou name: Te Bapúbi), the easternmost and least populous Skou village

Phonology

Consonants

The Skou consonants are:^[3]

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
Plosive	voiced	b		ɟ ~ ɡʲ
Fricative		f				h
Liquid	lateral		l
Liquid	rhotic		r
Semivowel		w		j

Vowels

Vowels can be nasalized, except for /ɨ/ and /u/.^[3]

	Front		Central		Back
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
Close	i	ĩ	ɨ		u
Mid	e	ẽ	ə	ə̃	o	õ
Open	a	ã

Tone

Skou contrasts three different tones in monosyllables: high, low and falling, which can be combined with nasality for a six-way contrast.^[2]


Pitch	Oral	Nasal
high [˥]	ta 'grass'	tã 'bird'
low [˨]	ta 'hair'	tã 'canoe'
falling [˥˩]	ta 'arrow'	tã 'machete'

Tone in Skou is affiliated with each word, rather than with each syllable.

In addition to lexical differences in tone, tone has grammatical functions.^[2]

For instance, tense in Skou is differentiated by tone.


non-past tense forms
[ni hu] falling-falling 'I sew'	[ni ha] falling-high 'I stand'	[ni hũ] falling-low 'I drink'
past tense forms
[ni hu] falling-low 'I sewed'	[ni ha] falling-low 'I stood'	[ni hũ] falling-low 'I drank'

Pronouns

Skou differentiates three types of pronouns: free pronouns, genitive pronouns and dative pronouns.^[2]

Pronouns
	Free	Genitive	Dative
1SG	[ni˥˩]	[ni˥˩]	[nɛ˨]
1PL	[nɛ˨]	[nɛ˥˩]	[nɛ˨]
2SG	[mɛ˥˩]	[mɛ˥˩]	[mɛ˨]
2PL	[ɛ˨]	[ɛ˥˩]	[ɛ˨]
3SG.NF	[kɛ˨]	[kɛ˥]	[kɛ˨]
3SG.F	[pɛ˨]	[pɛ˥˩]	[pɛ˨]
3PL	[tɛ˨]	[tɛ˥˩]	[tɛ˨]

References

↑ Skou at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
1 2 3 4 Donohue, Mark. 2004. A Grammar of the Skou language of New Guinea . Singapore: National University of Singapore. Available at .
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.

Donohue, Mark. 2004. A Grammar of the Skou language of New Guinea . Singapore: National University of Singapore. Available at .

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[e18-1] Skou at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[:0-2] 1 2 3 4 Donohue, Mark. 2004. A Grammar of the Skou language of New Guinea . Singapore: National University of Singapore. Available at .

[Foley-Sepik-3] 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.

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