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Sobei (Sobey) is one of theSarmi languages spoken in three villages (Sarmi, Sawar, and Bagaiserwar) near the district center of Sarmi inPapua province ofIndonesia. Ethnologue (2005) cites two third-party population estimates of 1,000 and 1,850, while Sterner estimates the population at 1,500 (1975) and 2,000 (1987), based on actual residence in the area.

Sobei reflexes of some common Austronesian etyma includeima 'hand',betwe 'star',daidu 'two',faso 'paddle',fau 'four',mam 'father',nen 'mother',natu '(his/her) child',niwe 'coconut',pana 'food',puwe 'betelnut',rani 'water',rau 'leaf',-sa 'up',-si 'down',siso 'breast',tafi 'sugarcane',tano 'rain',temto 'man',tesese 'one',tou 'three',wane 'sand',yafu 'fire' (all gleaned from J. Sterner 1975).

Sobei distinguishesalienable possession frominalienable possession by directly suffixing nouns in the latter type of relationship, principally body parts and kin terms. Themorphophonemics are often complex:natu’ 'my child',natun 'his/her child',netrirse 'our child(ren)',netrise 'their child(ren)';dabu'sa'a 'my head',dabusa'a 'his/her head',debrirsa'a 'our heads',debrisa'a 'their heads' (Sterner 1987). The following paradigm of the inalienably possessed nountema- 'father' is from Sterner (1976). The intermediate-ri- before the possessive suffix serves as a plural marker. As an independent pronoun,ri is 3rd person plural ('they'). Some kin terms that do not take the possessive suffixes nevertheless have plural forms ending in-(r)i:wawa-ri 'uncle-PL',tinan-i 'mother-PL',nabai-yi 'cousin-PL' (Sterner 1976).

Sobei verb stems can include a number of aspectual, reciprocal, modificational, or directional affixes, but every verb is minimally prefixed to show thegrammatical person andnumber of itssubject andgrammatical mood (realis orirrealis). Mood markers differ according to whether the stem is simple or complex, and some classes of verbs show stemallomorphy in theirconjugational paradigms. (See Sterner 1987.)

• Paradisec has two collections ofArthur Cappell's materials (AC1,AC2) that include Sobei language materials.

• Sterner, Joyce K. (1987)."Sobei Verb Morphology Reanalyzed to Reflect POC Studies".Oceanic Linguistics.26 (1/2):30–54.doi:10.2307/3623165.ISSN 0029-8115.JSTOR 3623165.
• Sterner, Joyce K. (1976). "A comprehensive look at Sobei phrases and words". In Suharno, Ignatius; Pike, Kenneth L. (eds.).From Baudi to Indonesian: Studies in linguistics. Jayapura: Cenderawasih University and the Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 153–176. RetrievedOctober 10, 2024.
• Sterner, Joyce K. (1975). "Sobei phonology".Oceanic Linguistics.14 (2):146–167.ISSN 0029-8115.JSTOR 20172303.
• Sterner, Robert H. (1975). "Sobei Verb Inflection".Oceanic Linguistics.14 (2):128–145.ISSN 0029-8115.JSTOR 20172302.

• Languages of Western New Guinea
• Sarmi–Jayapura languages

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