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| Sepik–Ramu | |
|---|---|
| (obsolete) | |
| Geographic distribution | New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Proposed language family |
| Subdivisions |
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| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | None |
TheSepik–Ramu languages are an obsoletelanguage family ofNew Guinea linking theSepik,Ramu,Nor–Pondo (Lower Sepik),Leonhard Schultze (Walio–Papi) andYuat families, together with theTaiaplanguage isolate, and proposed byDonald Laycock andJohn Z'graggen in 1975.[1]
Sepik–Ramu would consist of a hundred languages of theSepik andRamu river basins of northernPapua New Guinea, but spoken by only 200,000 people in all. The languages tend to have simple phonologies, with few consonants or vowels and usually no tones.
The best known Sepik–Ramu language isIatmül. The most populous are Iatmül's fellowNdu languagesAbelam andBoiken, with about 35,000 speakers apiece.
Malcolm Ross andWilliam A. Foley separately re-evaluated the Sepik–Ramu hypothesis in 2005. They both found no evidence that it forms a valid family. However, all of the constituent branches, except for Yuat within Ramu, remain individually valid in his evaluation. Ross links Nor–Pondo to Ramu in aRamu–Lower Sepik proposal, places Leonhard Schultze (tentatively broken up into Walio and Papi) within an extendedSepik family, and treats Yuat and Taiap as independent families.
This list is a mirror of the classification inEthnologue 15.
Uncontroversially coherent subgroups accepted by Foley (2018) are:[2]
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Below is a comparison of proto-Ndu, proto-Lower Sepik, and proto-Ottilien reconstructed by and listed in Foley (2005).[3]
| gloss | proto-Ndu | proto-Lower Sepik | proto-Ottilien |
|---|---|---|---|
| man, person | *ntɨw | *nor | *namot |
| water | *ŋkɨw | *arɨm | |
| fire | *ya | *awr | *s(u)ək |
| sun | *ɲa | *ra(u) | |
| moon | *mpapmɨw | *m(w)il ? | *kər(v)i |
| breast | *mɨwɲ | *nɨŋgay | *mɨr |
| tooth | *nɨmpɨy | *sisiŋk ? | *nda(r) |
| bone | *apə | *sariŋamp | *ɣar |
| tongue | *tɨkŋa | *minɨŋ | *mi(m) |
| eye | *mɨyR | *tambri | *rəmeak |
| nose | *tam(w)ə | *ŋgum | |
| leg | *man | *namuŋk | *or ? |
| ear | *wan | *kwand- | |
| name | *cɨ | *ɣi | |
| pig | *mp(w)al | *numpran | *rəkəm |
| snake | *kampwəy | *wakɨn | *ndop |
| mosquito | *kɨvɨy | *naŋgun | *ŋgit |
| eat | *kɨ | *am(b) | *amb |
| go | *yɨ | *wa | *saŋg |
| come | *ya | *ya | *kɨp |
| sit | *rə | *sa | *mbirak |
| stand | *rap(m) | *-tik | |
| one | *nək | *mb(w)ia- | *kaku |
| two | *ri-pa- | *mbuniŋ | |
| three | *-ram |
Due to its highly divergent lexicon, Foley does not classifySepik withLower Sepik andRamu.