Iwam language

Not to be confused with Sepik Iwam.
May River Iwam
RegionEast Sepik Province
Native speakers
(3,000 cited 1998)[1]
Sepik
Language codes
ISO 639-3iwm
Glottologiwam1256
ELPMay River Iwam
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May River Iwam, often simply referred to as Iwam, is a language of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.

It is spoken in Iyomempwi (4°14′28″S 141°53′34″E / 4.24117°S 141.89271°E / -4.24117; 141.89271 (Imombi)), Mowi (4°17′42″S 141°55′45″E / 4.294971°S 141.929199°E / -4.294971; 141.929199 (Mowi)), and Premai villages of Tunap/Hunstein Rural LLG in East Sepik Province, and other villages on the May River.[1][2]

Phonology

Vowels

Vowels[3]
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

Consonants[3]
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]

Pronouns

May River Iwam pronouns:[4]: 282 

sg du pl
1 ka/ani kərər kərəm
2 ki kor kom
3m si sor səm
3f sa

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 referents		 a(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.

Verbal morphology

May river Iwam has four periodic tense suffixes: matutinal -yok, diurnal -harok, postmeridial -tep and nocturnal -wae.[5]

Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words of Iwam are from Foley (2005)[6] and Laycock (1968),[7] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[8]

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

  1. ^ a b May River Iwam at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  3. ^ a b c d e Laycock (1965:115)
  4. ^ a b 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.
  5. ^ Foley (2018:286), Jacques, Guillaume (2023). "Periodic tense markers in the world's languages and their sources". Folia Linguistica. 57 (3): 539–562. doi:10.1515/flin-2023-2013.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66.
  8. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.

References

  • Laycock, D.C. (1965). "Three Upper Sepik phonologies". Oceanic Linguistics. 4 (1/2). University of Hawai'i Press: 113–118. doi:10.2307/3622917. JSTOR 3622917.