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| Yuat | |
|---|---|
| Middle Yuat River | |
| Geographic distribution | Yuat River area,East Sepik Province,Papua New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primarylanguage families |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | yuat1252 |
TheYuat languages are an independent family of fivePapuan languages spoken along theYuat River inEast Sepik Province,Papua New Guinea. They are an independent family in the classification of Malcolm Ross, but are included in Stephen Wurm'sSepik–Ramu proposal. However, Foley and Ross could find no lexical or morphological evidence that they are related to the Sepik or Ramu languages.
It is named after theYuat River of northernPapua New Guinea. Yuat languages are spoken mostly inYuat Rural LLG ofEast Sepik Province.[1][2]
The Yuat languages proper are:
Foley (2018) provides the following classification.[3]
Changriwa andMekmek are attested only by short words, and are tentatively grouped as separate branches by Foley (2018: 226) due to scanty evidence.
The pronouns Ross (2005) reconstructs for proto-Yuat are:
| I | *ŋun | we | *amba |
| thou | *ndi | you | *mba |
| s/he | *wu | they | ? |
Mundukumo andMiyak pronouns are:[3]
The following basic vocabulary words are from Davies & Comrie (1985),[4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[5]
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g.ŋkaᵐbaᵐgat∘,ŋgambaŋ for “leg”) or not (e.g.fufuimaye,ϕə'ziru for “hair”).
| gloss | Biwat[6] | Kyenele (Kyaimbarang dialect) | Kyenele (Miyak dialect) |
|---|---|---|---|
| head | fop; fopeh | ϕɔp∘ | ᵽop |
| hair | fufuimaivi; fufuimaye | ϕə'ziru | fusibɩľu |
| ear | tuanhe; tundu | 'twan | tandu |
| eye | siketeh; sipta | 'ɕikɯ | sɩpʰala |
| nose | gerekeh; ŋerek | 'ŋəŋərɩ | nʌnɛlɩŋ |
| tooth | andu; andusivahe | 'ŋandu | ŋandu |
| tongue | be; behe | 'mbᴶe | mpe |
| leg | gambang; geambangeh | ŋkaᵐbaᵐgat∘ | ŋgambaŋ |
| louse | uta; utaeh | uta | wututʰoma |
| dog | ken; kenhe | kᴶɛn | gɛn |
| pig | vereh; vre | βɛrɩ | ƀeǏe |
| bird | kaok; kaokhek | hɔpᴶɛ | wanma |
| egg | momoateh; mumuat | 'majmuma | wanmuma |
| blood | amberaeh; ambra | ambara | ambala |
| bone | amfuva; amfuvaheh | amϕu | amᵽuwa |
| skin | gamfuin; iaveteh | 'vɨza | nᵽɩsakʰ |
| breast | meru; meruhe | mi | miřu |
| tree | mung; mungeh | mu | mï |
| man | foakpa; fuakpahe | aβɨd | aƀɷt |
| woman | arepa; arepahe | mᴶe | miandu |
| sun | va; vaeh | βanma | ƀanma |
| moon | mumere; mumereh | 'gəŋat∘ | ŋgɨŋat |
| water | mam; mumeh | 'maŋam | maŋam |
| fire | mehen; men | mɨn | mɨn |
| stone | ghateh; yiak | mɨndəm | mɨndɩm |
| road, path | maikua; miakuahe | maj | mayt |
| name | vu'geh; vuŋ | wuŋ | |
| eat | ueh jiveh; u-u give | ɕɛnɕɛn | tšɛntšɛntšuƀa |
| one | nategeh; natek | ŋajkə | ŋaykʰʌkʰ |
| two | arauu; aravueh | aɽawi | aǏawin |
Yuat languages distinguish inclusive and exclusive first person pronouns, a feature not found in most other Papuan languages. This tyopological feature has also diffused from Yuat into theGrass languages, which are spoken contiguously to the Yuat languages.[3]
Yuat grammar and phonology are similar to those of the neighboringRamu languages.[3] Yuat verbal morphology is relatively simple.[3]: 230
Yuat languages areaccusative, unlike many other Papuan languages, e.g., Trans New Guinea, East Cenderawasih Bay, Lakes Plain, South Bougainville, which are allergative.[7]
Word order in Yuat languages, like in theYawa languages, is rigidly SOV, whereas in many other Papuan families, OSV word order is often permitted (as long as the verb is final).[7]: 920
Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". InAndrew 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.doi:10.15144/PL-572.ISBN 0858835622.OCLC 67292782.