Awtuw language
Sepik language spoken in Papua New Guinea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Awtuw (Autu), also known as Kamnum, is spoken in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. It is a polysynthetic language closely related to Karawa and Pouye. It is spoken in Galkutua, Gutaiya (3.565508°S 142.001655°E), Kamnom (3.552454°S 141.994165°E), Tubum (3.567408°S 142.003722°E), and Wiup (3.553766°S 141.9845°E) villages in Kamnom East ward, East Wapei Rural LLG, Sandaun Province.[1][2]
| Awtuw | |
|---|---|
| Region | East Wapei Rural LLG, Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea |
Native speakers | 700 (2014)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kmn |
| Glottolog | awtu1239 |
| ELP | Awtuw |
It is an endangered language, being widely replaced by Tok Pisin.
Phonology
Pronouns
Pronouns are:[3]
sg du pl 1 wan nan nom 2 yen an om 3m rey ræw rom 3f tey
Verbal morphology
Awtuw has a very rich verbal morphology, with 8 prefixal slots encoding tense, aspect, modality, polarity, subject number and reciprocal.[4]). Six of these slots contain prefixes that have cognates in Pouye.[5]
The suffixal chain contains recently grammaticalized suffixes encoding associated motion, aspect, benefactive, and various unusual categories such as celerative -imya 'quickly' as in (1) (grammaticalized from the verb imya 'run'),[6] simulative -panya 'pretend',[7] and periodic tense (adauroral -alw 'until dawn').[8]
Rey
3sg:MASC
aeye
food
rokr’-imy’-e.
cook-CELER-PST
'He cooked the food quickly.' (Feldman 1983: 122–123)
