Urim language

Not to be confused with Urimo language.
Urim
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionEast Sepik Province, Sandaun Province
Native speakers
3,700 (2003)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3uri
Glottologurim1252
ELPUrim

Urim is a Torricelli language of Papua New Guinea. It is also known as Kalp; dialects are Kukwo, Yangkolen. There is a grammatical description by Hemmilä and Luoma (2009).[2]

Phonology

Urim has vowel length contrast, but only for monosyllabic words. Urim also has the prestopped nasals /pm/, /tn/, and /kŋ/.[3]

Urim minimal pairs with short and long vowels:[3]

  • waŋ ‘time’, waːŋ ‘tree trunk’
  • hen ‘wild sago’, heːn ‘outside’

Pre-stopped nasals contrast with non-pre-stopped nasals:[3]

  • wak ‘species of plant’, waŋ ‘time’, wakŋ ‘fire’
  • yat ‘enough’, yan ‘father’, hatn ‘walk’
  • lim ‘nose’, kipm ‘you (pl)’
  • melp ‘wasp’, yelm ‘earthquake’, walpm ‘liver’

Pronouns

Pronouns are:[3]

singular dual paucal plural
1incl mentepm
1excl kupm mentakŋ minto men
2 kitn kipmekŋ kipmteŋ kipm
3 kil tuwekŋ tuteŋ tu

Like the Lower Sepik-Ramu languages, Urim (as well as Kombio) distinguishes dual and paucal pronouns.[3]

References

  1. ^ Urim at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Hemmilä, Ritva, and Luoma, Pirkko. 2009. Urim grammar. http://www.sil.org/pacific/png/abstract.asp?id=52255
  3. ^ a b c d e 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.