Ram languages

The Ram languages are a small group of 3 languages spoken in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. They are spoken directly to the northeast of the Yellow River languages and directly to the south of the Wapei languages, both of which are also Sepik groups. Ram is the word for 'man' in the languages that make up this group.

Ram
Geographic
distribution
central Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classificationSepik
Subdivisions
Glottologramm1241
The Sepik languages as classified by Foley (2018)

The languages are,[1]

They are classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea.

Awtuw is the best documented Ram language.

Pronouns

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Ram are:[2]

I*wanwe two(*na-n)we*na-m
thou*yɨ-nyou two(*yɨ-n/*a-n)you*yɨ-m/*a-m
he*ra (*atə-)they two(*ra-p, *atə-)they(*ra-m, *atə-m)
she(*ta-i)

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Laycock (1968)[3] and Foley (2005),[4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[5]

glossAwtuwKarawaPouye
head makəlakmoulakanouraka
ear maːna; nanemaklakamaroalaka
eye new; nünoulakanowar
nose witil; wutilwaklakawolokə
tooth pilak; piylakepilakapiyapa
tongue lale; laːləlaləpilaləmu
leg riiwe; riwelaləlalə
louse ninnipianipikəm
dog piːrən; piyrennəpayaukwə
pig yaw
bird yiawrayio
egg paŋkə; watewaːtəwarə
blood aipieipiaywi
bone lake; lakərlakəlakə
skin yaimouwilnəpyei
breast muy; mwiməymuy
tree tau; tawtautau
man rame; ramiyanyaŋkailamo
woman taləranteloutʔlum
sun mæy; maymaytaliyə
moon yelmek; yilmakeyalmayalma
water yiw; yüwyouyou
fire tapo; tapwotapotapo
stone tiltiditɨl
name yenyiy
eat ra
one naydowo
two yikiryikəramoyikən

References

  1. Ram, New Guinea World
  2. Ross (2005)
  3. Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66.
  4. Foley, W.A. "Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik-Ramu basin". In Pawley, A., Attenborough, R., Golson, J. and Hide, R. editors, Papuan Pasts: Cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. PL-572:109-144. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2005.
  5. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  • Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
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