| Asmat–Kamrau | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | southern coast and Kamrau Bay of Indonesian New Guinea |
| Ethnicity | Asmat people etc. |
| Linguistic classification | Trans–New Guinea
|
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | asma1256 |
 Map: The Asmat–Kamrau languages of New Guinea
The Asmat–Kamrau languages
Other Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited | |
The Asmat – Kamrau Bay languages are a family of a dozen Trans–New Guinea languages spoken by the Asmat and related peoples in southern Western New Guinea. They are believed to be a recent expansion along the south coast, as they are all closely related, and there is little differentiation in their pronouns.
Languages
The languages are:
- Kamrau Bay (Sabakor):
- Buruwai (Sabakor)
- Kamrau
- North Kamberau (Iria)
- South Kamberau (Asienara)
- Asmat–Kamoro
Proto-language
Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:
m n p k b ɟ ɡ s w r j
There is near complementary distribution between *p and *ɸ. *t and *d are marginal, appearing in only a few words. *r does not occur initially. There are no consonant clusters.
Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.
Pronouns
Ross (2005) reconstructs the proto-Asmat–Kamoro pronouns as:
sg pl 1 *no *na 2 *o/we *ca 3 *a
Usher (2020) reconstructs the free proto–Asmat–Kamrau Bay pronouns as:
Proto-Asmat–Kamrau sg pl 1 *no-rV *na-rV 2 *o-rV *ɟa-rV 3 *a-rV Proto-Kamrau sg pl 1 *nor *nar 2 *or-or *er-er 3 *ar-ar Proto-Asmat–Kamoro sg pl 1 *no-ro *na-rV 2 *o-ro *ca-rV 3 *a-rV Basic vocabulary
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:
gloss Proto-Asmat-Kamrau Proto-Kamrau Bay Proto-Asmat-Kamoro Proto-Asmat Proto-Muli Strait head *uɸu *jebin *ufu *kowisi 'head/skull' *ɣo̝p 'head/hair'; *uɔndVro̝m 'head/skull' hair *ɸini *ɸin *fini *ɸinV 'hair/feather(s)' *sin ear *jiɸne *jaɸm *jafane *jaɸane *ie̝pær eye *manaN *manam *mana *mana *musiɣ nose *miC *mik *mi *mi *mæne̝ɣ 'nose/tip' tooth *siC *sik *sisi *sisV *ziɣ tongue *komane *mam *komane *komVne *ndupæn foot/leg *mawu *mawu *mawu *mawi *kaŋg 'leg' blood/red *ese *et *ese *ir 'blood' fruit/seed/bone *eake *eke *eake skin/bark *ɸu *pitini *pitʲini *par breast *awo *awo *awo *abuɣ louse *amo *om *amo *am dog *juwuɾi *iwuɾ *juwuri *juwVɾi *ibui pig *oɸo *ok *ofo *up bird *geɟ *sakV egg *sa *asa *sa *sa tree/wood *ose *o *ose *to̝ 'tree' man/male *bewu *nam 'man/person' woman *ɟawoɟa *jawoɟa *cawoca *jipitʲi *ie̝t 'woman/wife' sun *jawu *asi 'sun/day' *jawu *jawi *zaua moon *buɾa *buɾa *pura *piɾa *irind water *m *moɟ *mui *mui *mo̝i fire/firewood *usa *usa *usa *jusa *ua 'fire' stone *jeta *eta *jka *mæte̝ path *matoC; *mak *mato name *uwase *u *uwase *juwase *ur eat/drink *n- *n- *n *ne- *no̝ku one *ɟawa *-ɟawa *cawak *tʲawaka two *kaboma *aboma *kapoma; *jamnV
Evolution
See also: Asmat language § EvolutionProto-Asmat-Kamoro reflexes (Voorhoeve 2005) of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma, as listed in Pawley & Hammarström (2018):
- *fiti ‘fingernail’ < pTNG *mb(i,u)t(i,u)C
- *isi ‘mosquito’ < *kasin
- *ese ‘blood’ < *kenja
- *masap or *masip ‘saliva’ < *si(mb,p)atV
- *yi ‘urine’ < *si
- *asa ‘excrement’ < *asa
- *manaka ‘eye’ < *mun(a,e,i)ka
- *sisi ‘tooth’ < *(t,s)i(t,s)i
- *yirama ‘night’ < *k(i,u)tama
- *tama ‘morning’ < *k(i,u)tama
- *na- ‘eat’ < *na-
References
- New Guinea World, Asmat – Kamrau Bay
- Usher, Timothy; Suter, Edgar (2020). "The Asmat-Muli Languages of Southwestern New Guinea" (PDF). Language & Linguistics in Melanesia. 38. Port Moresby: Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea. ISSN 0023-1959.
- New Guinea World, Kamrau Bay
- New Guinea World, Asmat–Kamoro
- ^ "Asmat-Kamrau Bay - newguineaworld".
- Voorhoeve, Clemens L. 2005. Asmat-Kamoro, Awyu-Dumut and Ok: An enquiry into their linguistic relationship. In Pawley, Andrew and Robert Attenborough and Golson, Jack and Hide, Robin (eds.), Papuan Pasts: Studies in the Cultural, Linguistic and Biological History of the Papuan-speaking Peoples, 145-166. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
- Pawley, Andrew; Hammarström, Harald (2018). "The Trans New Guinea family". 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. 21–196. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
Bibliography
- Drabbe, Piet. 1953. Spraakkunst van de Kamoro-taal. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
- Drabbe, Piet. 1963. Drie Asmat-dialecten. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, No. 42. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
- 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.
- Voorhoeve, C.L. 1965. The Flamingo Bay Dialect of the Asmat language. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, No. 46. The Hague. doi:10.26530/OAPEN_613367
- Voorhoeve, C.L. 1968. "The Central and South New Guinea Phylum: a report on the language situation in south New Guinea." Pacific Linguistics, Series A, No. 16: 1–17. Canberra: The Australian National University.
- Voorhoeve, C.L. 1975. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist, Preliminary Classification, Language Maps, Wordlists. Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 31. Canberra: The Australian National University.
- Voorhoeve, C.L. 1980. The Asmat Languages of Irian Jaya. Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 64. Canberra: The Australian National University.
- Wurm, Stephan Adolphe. 1983. The Papuan Languages of Oceania. Ars Linguistica 7. Tübingen: Narr.
External links
- Timothy Usher & Edgar Suter, New Guinea World, Proto–Asmat – Kamrau Bay
Central and South New Guinea languages Asmat–Kamoro Asmat Sabakor Others Greater Awyu Awyu–Dumut Becking–Dawi Ok–Oksapmin Western Lowland Mountain Others Bayono–Awbono Komolom Somahai Papuan language families
(Palmer 2018 classification)Trans-New Guinea
subgroupsCentral Papua, Indonesia Southeast Papua, Indonesia Southwest Papua New Guinea Central Papua New Guinea Papuan Peninsula Eastern Nusantara
families and isolatesBird's Head Peninsula
families and isolatesNorthern Western New Guinea
families and isolatesCentral Western New Guinea
families and isolatesSepik-Ramu basin
families and isolates- Torricelli
- Sepik
- Lower Sepik-Ramu
- Kwomtari
- Leonhard Schultze (Walio-Papi)
- Upper Yuat (Arafundi-Piawi)
- Yuat
- Left May
- Amto-Musan
Torricelli subgroups Sepik subgroups Ramu subgroups - Lower Ramu
- Middle Ramu
- Grass?
- Tamolan
- Ataitan (Tanggu)
Gulf of Papua and southern New Guinea
families and isolatesBismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands
families and isolatesRossel Island
isolateProposed groupings - West Papuan
- Northwest Papuan
- South Pauwasi
- East Papuan
- Southeast Papuan
- Papuan Gulf
- Binanderean–Goilalan
- Arai–Samaia
- Asmat–Mombum
- Trans-Fly–Bulaka River
- Trans-Fly
- Dani–Kwerba
- East Bird's Head – Sentani
- Kwomtari–Fas
- Left May – Kwomtari
- Tor–Kwerba–Nimboran
- West Trans–New Guinea
- West Papuan Highlands
- Central and South New Guinea
- Central West New Guinea
- East New Guinea Highlands
- Yele – West New Britain
- Sepik–Ramu
- Indo-Pacific
Proto-language