| Nukuma | |
|---|---|
| Ma | |
| Geographic distribution | East Sepik Province, in the Sepik River basin of Papua New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Sepik
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | nuku1256 |
The Nukuma languages are a small family of three clearly related languages:
They are generally classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea; Malcolm Ross places them in a Middle Sepik branch of that family.
They are spoken to the north of the Sepik River near Ambunti, and west of the Ambulas-speaking region of Mapr (near Wosera town).
Pronouns
Pronouns in Nukuma languages:
pronoun Kwoma Mende 1SG an an ~ na ~ a 2SG.M mɨ mi 2SG.F ni ɲi 3SG.M rɨ or ~ ri 3SG.F sɨ os ~ si 1DU si ʃi 2DU ki ʃi 3DU pɨr fri 1PL no ni 2PL kwo ci 3PL ye li
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from Foley (2005) and Laycock (1968), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. masək, masiki for “head”) or not (e.g. miːma, nogəpie for “woman”).
gloss Kwoma Mende head masək masiki ear fuː; mabiya mampla eye miː; miyi məsokome nose sumojɨ; sumwonj miñompo tooth pu; tarəkwi fu tongue kwunja; tarekwoy tarple leg yaːte; yati kumpa louse nəkə; nɨka nika dog asa asa pig buri; poyi bird apu afi egg apo; bey; mpei fəla blood pi fi bone apo; hapa hapa skin mampə maume breast muk; muku muku tree me mi man ma ma woman miːma nogəpie sun ya ta moon nowəka; nɨwɨka niyaka water uku uku fire hi; hiː hi stone papa süŋkye name hi eat a one pochi two uprus frišip
See also
References
- Ma, New Guinea World
- ^ 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.
- 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.
- Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66.
- Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". 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. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
| Sepik languages | |||||||||
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| Upper Sepik |
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| Middle Sepik |
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| Sepik Hill |
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| Others |
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