Iwam language
May River Iwam, often simply referred to as Iwam, is a language of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.
| May River Iwam | |
|---|---|
| Region | East Sepik Province |
Native speakers | (3,000 cited 1998)[1] |
Sepik
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | iwm |
| Glottolog | iwam1256 |
| ELP | May River Iwam |
It is spoken in Iyomempwi (4.24117°S 141.89271°E), Mowi (4.294971°S 141.929199°E), and Premai villages of Tunap/Hunstein Rural LLG in East Sepik Province, and other villages on the May River.[1][2]
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a |
In non-final positions, /u/ /o/, /i/, and /e/ are [ʊ] [ɔ], [ɪ], and [ɛ], respectively. /ə/ appears only in nonfinal syllables. When adjacent to nasal consonants, vowels are nasalized; nasalization may also occur when adjacent to word boundaries.[3]
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | p | t | k | ||
| Fricative | s | h | |||
| Flap | r | ||||
| Semivowel | j | w |
/p/ and /k/ are voiced fricatives ([β] and [ɣ]) respectively) when intervocalic and unreleased when final (/t/ is also unreleased when final). /ŋ/ is a nasal flap ([ɾ̃]) word-initially and between vowels. /s/ is [ts] initially and may otherwise be palatalized [sʲ].[3] Sequences of any consonant and /w/ are neutralized before /u/ where an offglide is always heard.
Phonotactics
Bilabial and velar consonants and /n/ may be followed by /w/ when initial. Other initial clusters include /pr/, /kr/, /hr/, /hw/, and /hn/ and final clusters are /w/ or /j/ followed by any consonant except for /h/ or /ŋ/.[3]
Noun classes
Like the Wogamus languages, May River Iwam has five noun classes:[4]
class semantic category prefix example class 1 male human referents nu- (adult males);
ru- (uninitiated or immature males)yenkam nu-t
man class.1-one
‘one man’class 2 female human, children,
or other animate referentsa(o)- owi a-ois
duck class.2-two
‘two ducks’class 3 large objects kwu- ana kwu-(o)t
hand class.3-one
‘a big hand’class 4 small objects ha- ana ha-(o)t
hand class.4-one
‘a small hand’class 5 long objects hwu- ana hwu-(o)t
hand class.5-one
‘a long hand’
As shown by the example above for ana ‘hand’, a noun can take on different classes depending on the physical characteristics being emphasized.
Vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words of Iwam are from Foley (2005)[5] and Laycock (1968),[6] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[7]
gloss Iwam head mu ear wun eye nu nose nomwos tooth piknu tongue kwane leg wərku; wɨrku louse ŋən; nɨn dog nwa pig hu bird owit egg yen blood ni bone keew; kew skin pəw breast muy tree pae(kap); paykap man kam; yen-kam woman wik sun pi moon pwan water op; o(p) fire pay stone siya eat (n)ai; (nd)ai one oe; ruk; su two ŋwis
Notes
- May River Iwam at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
- Laycock (1965:115)
- 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. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- 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.
- Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66.
- Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
External links
- Materials on Sepic Iwam are included in the open access Arthur Capell collections (AC1) held by Paradisec.
References
- Laycock, D.C. (1965). "Three Upper Sepik phonologies". Oceanic Linguistics. University of Hawai'i Press. 4 (1/2): 113–118. doi:10.2307/3622917. JSTOR 3622917.