Ram languages

Summary

The Ram languages are a small group of 3 languages spoken in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. They are spoken directly to the northeast of the Yellow River languages and directly to the south of the Wapei languages, both of which are also Sepik groups. Ram is the word for 'man' in the languages that make up this group.

Ram
Geographic
distribution
central Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classificationSepik
Subdivisions
Glottologramm1241
The Sepik languages as classified by Foley (2018)

The languages are,[1]

They are classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea.

Awtuw is the best documented Ram language.

Pronouns edit

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Ram are:[2]

I *wan we two (*na-n) we *na-m
thou *yɨ-n you two (*yɨ-n/*a-n) you *yɨ-m/*a-m
he *ra (*atə-) they two (*ra-p, *atə-) they (*ra-m, *atə-m)
she (*ta-i)

Vocabulary comparison edit

The following basic vocabulary words are from Laycock (1968)[3] and Foley (2005),[4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[5]

gloss Awtuw Karawa Pouye
head makəlak moulaka nouraka
ear maːna; nane maklaka maroalaka
eye new; nü noulaka nowar
nose witil; wutil waklaka wolokə
tooth pilak; piylake pilaka piyapa
tongue lale; laːlə laləpi laləmu
leg riiwe; riwe lalə lalə
louse nin nipia nipikəm
dog piːrən; piyren nəpay aukwə
pig yaw
bird yi awra yio
egg paŋkə; wate waːtə warə
blood aipi eipi aywi
bone lake; lakər lakə lakə
skin yai mouwil nəpyei
breast muy; mwi məy muy
tree tau; taw tau tau
man rame; ramiyan yaŋkai lamo
woman taləran telou tʔlum
sun mæy; may may taliyə
moon yelmek; yilmake yalma yalma
water yiw; yüw you you
fire tapo; tapwo tapo tapo
stone til tidi tɨl
name yenyiy
eat ra
one naydowo
two yikir yikəramo yikən

References edit

  1. ^ Ram, New Guinea World
  2. ^ Ross (2005)
  3. ^ Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  • Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew 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. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.