Massep language
Foja Range language spoken in Indonesia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Massep (Masep, Potafa, Wotaf) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by fewer than 50 people in the single village of Masep in West Pantai District, Sarmi Regency, Papua. Despite the small number of speakers, however, language use is vigorous. It is surrounded by the Kwerba languages, namely Airoran and Samarokena.[2]
| Massep | |
|---|---|
| Wotaf | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Papua: Sarmi Regency, West Coast District, north coast (Masep village); also west of Sarmi near Apauwar River |
| Ethnicity | 85 (2000)[1] |
Native speakers | (25 cited 2000)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mvs |
| Glottolog | mass1263 |
| ELP | Masep |
  Massep  Massep | |
| Coordinates: 1.75°S 138.29°E | |
Classification
Clouse, Donohue, and Ma (2002) did not notice connections to any other language family.[3] Ethnologue, Glottolog, and Foley (2018)[2] list it as a language isolate.[1][4] Usher classifies it as Greater Kwerbic.[5] The pronouns are not dissimilar from those of Trans–New Guinea languages, but Massep is geographically distant from that family.
Phonology
Pronouns
Pronouns are:[2]
sg pl 1 ka nyi 2 gu je 3 evi ive
Morphology
Sentences
Massep sentences as quoted by Foley (2018) from Clouse (2002):[2]
ka
1SG
icin-o
stone-ACC
fartasi
throw
unu-ɣoke
dog-DAT
‘I threw a stone at the dog.’
je
2PL
saremna
sit
yaf-avri
house-LOC
‘You (pl.) sat in the house.’
gu
2SG
ko-war-emon
1SG.OBJ-see-SG.TNS
‘You see me.’
Word order is SOV.
