Marangis language

Marangis a.k.a. Watam is a Ramu language of Papua New Guinea. Like Bosmun, it shares a number of irregular plural markers with the Lower Sepik languages, supporting the proposal of a Ramu – Lower Sepik language family.

Marangis
Watam
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionMadang Province, East Sepik Province
Native speakers
590 (2003)[1]
Ramu
Language codes
ISO 639-3wax
Glottologwata1253
ELPWatam[2]

It is spoken in the two villages of:[3][4]

Pronouns

The pronominal system of Watam has a four-way distinction, with there being a paucal ("a few", "more than two") number for pronouns in addition to singular, dual, and plural.[5]

personsingulardualpaucalplural
1st yakaŋgaapakae
2nd unoŋgoniŋgane
3rd mamiŋgamiŋgamin

Nouns

Nominal plural formatives include:[5]

glosssingularplural
‘ear’kwarkwair
‘elbow’tutuptutpemb
‘buttocks’toktoke
‘leg’ororar
‘man’namotnamtar
‘girl’namoŋnavgor
‘nose’ŋgumgubeb
bandicootmaŋemmaŋbar
sagowakwik
betelnutmeɲjakmiɲjik

Verbs

Watam verbal conjugation for the verb ndo ‘to see’:[5]

tenseverbal form
present ndo-ta
present ndo-ri
future ndo-na(n)
imperative ndo

References

  1. Marangis at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Watam.
  3. Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
  4. United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  5. Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
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