Namia language
Sepik language spoken in Papua New Guinea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Namia (Namie, Nemia) is a Sepik language spoken in Namea Rural LLG, Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. It goes by various names, such as Edawapi, Lujere, Yellow River. Language use is "vigorous" (Ethnologue).
| Namia | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Namea Rural LLG in Sandaun Province; East Sepik Province |
Native speakers | 6,000 (2007)[1] |
Sepik
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nnm |
| Glottolog | nami1256 |
| ELP | Namia |
In Sandaun Province, it is spoken in Ameni (3.981559°S 141.766186°E), Edwaki, Iwane (3.906643°S 141.755439°E), Lawo, Pabei (3.927006°S 141.776325°E), and Panewai villages in Namea Rural LLG, and in the Wiyari area. It is also spoken in 19 villages of Yellow River District in East Sepik Province.[2][3]
Dialects
Namie dialect groups are:[4]
- Ailuaki: spoken in Yegarapi (3.870583°S 141.800527°E), Yaru (3.85512°S 141.802378°E), and Norambalip (3.814045°S 141.828438°E) villages
- Amani: spoken in Augwom (3.99286°S 141.716817°E), Iwani (3.906643°S 141.755439°E), Pabei (3.927006°S 141.776325°E), Panewai, and Tipas (3.981559°S 141.766186°E) villages
- Wiari: spoken in Alai (3.910948°S 141.797074°E), Nami (3.896557°S 141.879322°E), Worikori (3.923558°S 141.879066°E), Akwom (3.938724°S 141.833174°E), and Naum (3.923731°S 141.833466°E) villages
- Lawo: spoken in Mokwidami (3.858705°S 141.744059°E), Mantopai (3.708668°S 141.698706°E), Yawari (3.676068°S 141.729295°E), and Aiendami (3.944326°S 141.806744°E) villages
Phonology
Namia has only 7 phonemic consonants:[5]
Some analyses present /tʃ/ as an eighth phoneme,[6] although its distribution is predictable. [tʃ] and in some cases /r/ are positional variants of /t/, as described in the table below.[5]
| 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]
The glides [j w] occur as allophones of /i u/, e.g. /iapu/ [japu] 'Sepik river', /uəla/ → [wəla] 'house'.[5]
Grammar
Unlike other Sepik languages, Namia has an inclusive-exclusive distinction for the first-person pronoun, which could possibly be due to diffusion from Torricelli languages.[6] Inclusive-exclusive first-person pronominal distinctions are also found in the Yuat languages and Grass languages.
Vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words are from Foley (2005)[7] and Laycock (1968),[8] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[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