Tama languages
Small family of languages of northern Papua New Guinea
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The Tama languages are a small family of three clusters of closely related languages of northern Papua New Guinea, spoken just to the south of Nuku town in eastern Sandaun Province. They are classified as subgroup of the Sepik languages. Tama is the word for 'man' in the languages that make up this group.
distributionSepik River basin, Papua New Guinea: just to the south of Nuku town in eastern Sandaun Province
| Tama | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Sepik River basin, Papua New Guinea: just to the south of Nuku town in eastern Sandaun Province |
| Linguistic classification | Sepik
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | sepi1256 |
The Sepik languages as classified by Foley (2018) | |
Yessan-Mayo and Mehek are the best documented Tama languages.[1]
Languages
Usher (2020) classifies the Tama languages as follows,[2]
- Tama
Foley (2018), following Donald Laycock, provides the following classification.[1]
- Tama
Phonology
The Tama languages distinguish /r/ and /l/, unlike many other Papuan languages that have only one liquid consonant.[1]
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from Laycock (1968),[4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[5]
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. suwa, huwa for “leg”) or not (e.g. namra, wapray for “eye”).
gloss Mehek Pahi Yessan-Mayo[6] Yessan-Mayo (Warasai dialect) head terfa taraʔwey tara ear namra wapray wan wan eye lakwo niaʔwey la; lə la nose wiliŋki fikihinwi raŋkɨ; raŋki haŋki tooth mpi piaʔwey lər; lir rir tongue tawul tafəki tawlə kawul leg suwa huwa towa; warə sowa louse nunum nunum nɨ; ni niʔ dog wala waʔay wala wale pig for bird fenre feydey ap apu egg lakwo yaʔwey yen; yɨn yan blood kefu nefum nap nap bone yefa yefa yaha skin liki fuhum was breast muku muwi mu; mukw mukw tree moː muy me meʔ man tama tama tama; tamə kama woman tawa tawa taː ka sun nampul napuy yabəl; yampəl yampəl moon nekwa nefʔa lup; lɨyf lüp water okwu oʔwi ok; okw okw fire kiri irʔi k-er; kər kər stone arkwo hijopey pa papə eat a(m) one wurɨ two lisifu fes kes