Wogamus languages

Last updated
Wogamus
Geographic
distribution
Wogamush River, western East Sepik Province, in the Upper Sepik River basin of Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification Sepik
Glottolog woga1248

The Wogamus languages are a pair of closely related languages,

Contents

Wogamusin and Chenapian. [1]

They are classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea; Malcolm Ross and William A. Foley (2018) [2] place them in the Upper Sepik branch of that family.

The Wogamus languages are spoken along the banks of the Wogamush River and Sepik River in western East Sepik Province, just to the east of the Iwam languages.

Noun classes

Wogamus languages have noun classes reminiscent of those found in Bantu languages. Noun classes in Wogamusin and Chenapian are listed below, with Wogamusin -um ‘three’ and Chenapian -mu ‘three’ used as examples. [2]

Class no.Semantic categoryWogamusin prefixChenapian prefixWogamusin exampleChenapian example
1humanss(i)-s(i)-s-umsi-mu
2higher animals: dogs, pigs, etc.r-gw-r-umgw-umu
3plants, trees, vines, etc.b-b-b-umb-umu
4no specific patternh-n-h-umn-əmu
5no specific patternŋgw-kw-ŋgw-umkw-umu

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from the Trans-New Guinea database. [3] The Wogamusin data is from Foley (2005) [4] and Laycock (1968), [5] and the Chenapian data is from SIL field notes (1983).

gloss Chenapian Wogamusin
headtoapᵒ; tuwaptowam
hairtaoɛnavon; taunabon
eargwabuo; ugwabəmam
eyedžinano; ǰininoli
nosemɨnɨk; munɩkboliŋ
toothdiu; duɨʔndəl; ndɨl
tonguetaun; tontaliyen
legsoʷanaup; šonawəpsu
lousedamian; dəmiaʔtetak
doggwara; ogwarawal
pigkᵘo; ku
birddžɛosiʔ; ǰɛošiyah
eggnoə; ṣⁱu no
bloodne; nᵊenoh
bonedža; ǰa·rubwi
skinbɩn; bönmbe
breastmu; muʔmuk
treeməntəp; montoapmbotom
mantama; tamötam
womantauwo; tawötaw
sundžabɨn; ǰaƀanyam
moonnuluh
waterdžoʔ; ǰoʔyək; yɨk
fireunkur
stonenogɛrao; noguařonoŋg
road, pathuni
nametamgu
onenař; sⁱərəʔa (M); ed (F)
twoǰⁱək; nɛsi; ṣiṣinwis

Footnotes

  1. Chenapian–Wogamusin, New Guinea World
  2. 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. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN   978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea" . Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  4. 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.
  5. Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics , 7 (1): 36-66.

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References