Sepik language spoken in Papua New Guinea
Namia (Namie, Nemia) is aSepik language spoken inNamea Rural LLG ,Sandaun Province ,Papua New Guinea . It goes by various names, such asEdawapi, Lujere, Yellow River . Language use is "vigorous" (Ethnologue ).
InSandaun Province , it is spoken in Ameni (3°58′54″S 141°45′58″E / 3.981559°S 141.766186°E /-3.981559; 141.766186 (Ameni (Tipas) ) 3°54′24″S 141°45′20″E / 3.906643°S 141.755439°E /-3.906643; 141.755439 (Iwani ) 3°55′37″S 141°46′35″E / 3.927006°S 141.776325°E /-3.927006; 141.776325 (Pabei ) Namea Rural LLG , and in the Wiyari area. It is also spoken in 19 villages ofYellow River District inEast Sepik Province .[ 2] [ 3]
Namie dialect groups are:[ 4]
Ailuaki : spoken in Yegarapi (3°52′14″S 141°48′02″E / 3.870583°S 141.800527°E /-3.870583; 141.800527 (Yegarapi ) 3°51′18″S 141°48′09″E / 3.85512°S 141.802378°E /-3.85512; 141.802378 (Yaru ) 3°48′51″S 141°49′42″E / 3.814045°S 141.828438°E /-3.814045; 141.828438 (Normbalip ) Amani : spoken in Augwom (3°59′34″S 141°43′01″E / 3.99286°S 141.716817°E /-3.99286; 141.716817 (Augwom ) 3°54′24″S 141°45′20″E / 3.906643°S 141.755439°E /-3.906643; 141.755439 (Iwani ) 3°55′37″S 141°46′35″E / 3.927006°S 141.776325°E /-3.927006; 141.776325 (Pabei ) 3°58′54″S 141°45′58″E / 3.981559°S 141.766186°E /-3.981559; 141.766186 (Ameni (Tipas) ) Wiari : spoken in Alai (3°54′39″S 141°47′49″E / 3.910948°S 141.797074°E /-3.910948; 141.797074 (Alai ) 3°53′48″S 141°52′46″E / 3.896557°S 141.879322°E /-3.896557; 141.879322 (Nami ) 3°55′25″S 141°52′45″E / 3.923558°S 141.879066°E /-3.923558; 141.879066 (Warkori ) 3°56′19″S 141°49′59″E / 3.938724°S 141.833174°E /-3.938724; 141.833174 (Akwom ) 3°55′25″S 141°50′00″E / 3.923731°S 141.833466°E /-3.923731; 141.833466 (Naum ) Lawo : spoken in Mokwidami (3°51′31″S 141°44′39″E / 3.858705°S 141.744059°E /-3.858705; 141.744059 (Mokwedami ) 3°42′31″S 141°41′55″E / 3.708668°S 141.698706°E /-3.708668; 141.698706 (Mantopai ) 3°40′34″S 141°43′45″E / 3.676068°S 141.729295°E /-3.676068; 141.729295 (Yawari ) 3°56′40″S 141°48′24″E / 3.944326°S 141.806744°E /-3.944326; 141.806744 (Luwawo (Aiendami) ) Namia has only 7 phonemic consonants:[ 5]
Namia consonant inventory Labial Alveolar Velar Plosive p t k Nasal m n Tap r Lateral l
Some analyses present /tʃ/ as an eighth phoneme,[ 6] [ 5]
Distribution of oral coronal phones in Namia Environment Phones Examples Attested In variation Unattested # _ [t], [l] [t~r] *[tʃ] [tip] 'basket', [lip] 'ditch' _ # [r], [l] *[t], *[tʃ] [er] 'we two', [el] 'woman' [i u] _ [tʃ], [r], [l] *[t] [titʃei] 'stone', [irei] 'digging stick', [ilei] 'name' [e ə o a] _ [r], [l] *[tʃ], *[t] [ari] 'already', [alu] 'branch' V _ C V [r], [l] *[tʃ], *[t] [irno] 'face', [ilpok] 'storm front' V C _ V [r], [l], [t] *[tʃ] [amral] 'width', [amtou] 'red pandanus', [emomle] 'awaken'
Word-initially [r] may be heard in place of expected [t] in rapid speech if the previous word ends in a vowel. In no environment do more than three phonemes contrast, meaning that a fourth oral coronal /tʃ/ is not required. [tʃ] only occurs following high vowels /i/ or /u/ (e.g. [putʃwapu] 'lazy') where it can be seen as an allophone of /t/. In most environments only two phonemes contrast, suggesting that /r/ only recently diverged from /t/.
There are 6 vowels in Namia:[ 6]
Front Central Back Close i u Mid e ə o Open a
The glides [j w] occur as allophones of /i u/, e.g. /iapu/ [japu] 'Sepik river', /uəla/ → [wəla] 'house'.[ 5]
Unlike otherSepik languages , Namia has an inclusive-exclusive distinction for the first-person pronoun, which could possibly be due to diffusion fromTorricelli languages .[ 6] Yuat languages andGrass languages .
The following basic vocabulary words are from Foley (2005)[ 7] [ 8] [ 9]
gloss Namia head magu ear mak eye eno nose nəmala; nɨmala tooth pinarɨ; pinarə tongue lar leg liː; lipala louse nanpeu dog ar; ara pig lwae bird eyu egg puna blood norə bone lak skin urarə breast mu tree mi man lu woman ere sun wuluwa moon yem water ijo; ito fire ipi stone lijei name ilei eat (t) one tipia two pəli
^ Namia atEthnologue (subscription required) ^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019)."Papua New Guinea languages" .Ethnologue : Languages of the WorldSIL International . ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018)."Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup" .Humanitarian Data Exchange . 1.31.9. ^ Steer, Martin (2005).Languages of the Upper Sepik and Central New Guinea (PDF) . Canberra: Australian National University. Archived fromthe original (PDF) on 2023-10-22. Retrieved2019-10-01 . ^a b c Feldpausch, Becky; Feldpausch, Tom (2009).Phonology essentials of the Namia language ^a b c 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 ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016)."TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea" . Retrieved2020-11-05 .
Official languages Major Indigenous Other Papuan
Sign languages
