| Lower Mamberamo | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | mouth of theMamberamo River,New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Austronesian, or a primarylanguage family ("Papuan") |
| Proto-language | Proto-Lower Mamberamo |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | lowe1409 |
TheLower Mamberamo languages are a recently proposedlanguage family linking two languages spoken along the northern coast ofPapua province, Indonesia, near the mouth of theMamberamo River. They have various been classified either as heavily PapuanizedAustronesian languages belonging to theSHWNG branch, or asPapuan languages that had undergone heavy Austronesian influence.Glottolog 3.4 classifies Lower Mamberamo as Austronesian, while Donohue classifies it as Papuan. Kamholz (2014) classifiesWarembori andYoke each as coordinate primary subgroups of theSouth Halmahera–West New Guinea languages.[1]
The two languages,Warembori andYoke, were listed asisolates inStephen Wurm's widely used classification. Donohue (1998) showed them to be related with shared morphological irregularities.[2] Ross (2007) classified Warembori as anAustronesian language based on pronouns; however, Donohue argues that these are borrowed, since the two pronouns most resistant to borrowing, 'I' and 'thou', do not resemble Austronesian or any other language family. The singular prefixes resembleKwerba languages, but Lower Mamberamo has nothing else in common with that family. (SeeWarembori language andYoke language for details.) Donohue argues that they form an independent family, though one perhaps related to another Papuan family, that has been extensively relexified under Austronesian influence, especially in the case of Warembori.
Pauwi, now extinct, may have been a Lower Mamberamo language.[3]
| Ambermo | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Mamberamo,Papua Province |
| Era | attested 1855 |
unclassified | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | ambe1246 |
In 1855, G. J. Fabritius collected numerals from around Geelvink Bay. At the 'Ambermo' (Mamberamo) River at the eastern extent of his coverage, he collectedtenama '1' andbisa '2' from an unnamed language. However, he notes that the people only 'count' by means of singular and plural, so it is doubtful whethertenama andbisa are actually numerals. In any case, these words do not resemble the numerals in any language of the area, so the language Fabritius encountered remains unidentified.[4]
Reconstructed independent pronouns in proto-Lower Mamberamo are:[3]
| sg | pl | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | *e | *ki |
| 2 | *a | *mi |
| 3 | *(y)i | *si |
Foley observes that there are likely similarities withAustronesian languages, likely due to contact.
*e 'I' and*a 'you (sg)' are also shared with neighboringKwerba languages.[3]
Basic vocabulary, mostly cognates, of the Lower Mamberamo languages (Warembori andYoke) listed inFoley (2018):[3]
| gloss | Warembori | Yoke | notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 'bird' | mani | mani | < Austronesian |
| 'bone' | kombo | akombu | |
| 'eat' | an | aang | < Austronesian ? |
| 'egg' | ndowa | nduvu | |
| 'give' | ore | o | |
| 'go' | da | da | < Austronesian ? |
| 'hair' | bun | bo | < Austronesian |
| 'hear' | nata | nanta | |
| 'kill' | muni | mu | < Austronesian |
| 'leg' | epi | pi | |
| 'louse' | ki | ninggi | < Austronesian ? |
| 'man' | man | mamb | |
| 'name' | nan | nand | |
| 'tree' | ayo | a | < Austronesian |
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[5] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[6]
| gloss | Warembori | Yoke |
|---|---|---|
| head | irimundo | |
| hair | iburando | kiraumga |
| eye | ibaro | kikia |
| tooth | iburoro | kebrua |
| leg | kemaro | kipitaopa |
| louse | kiro | niŋi |
| dog | nieiba | |
| pig | puwe | pero |
| bird | maniro | |
| egg | manindobaro | |
| blood | daro | |
| bone | kekomboro | |
| skin | akuero | |
| tree | awuro | aba |
| man | mando | maomba |
| sun | ururo | tebia;wit |
| water | dando | diri;memba |
| fire | ontemaro | oba |
| stone | bakandaro | antusua |
| name | inanora | |
| eat | ando | ani |
| one | iseno | osxenu |
| two | kainduo | kaiamba |