Piawi languages
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| Piawi | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
Papua New Guinea |
| Genetic classification: |
Ramu-Lower Sepik ? Ramu ? Arafundi-Piawi ? Piawi |
| Subdivisions: |
Hagahai
Haruai
|
The Piawi languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Würm's Trans-New Guinea proposal.
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[edit] Classification
Piawi consists of only two languages:
- Piawi family: Hagahai (Pinai), Haruai (Waibuk)
Davies and Comrie 1985 noted some pronominal similarities with the Engan languages in Trans-New Guinea, which Ross took into consideration, but no lexical similarities. Comrie believes the family is as isolate. According to Ross, connections with Ramu languages such as Arafundi appear more promising.
[edit] Pronouns
Below is a comparison of proto-Piawi, proto-Ramu, Arafundi, and proto-North Engan pronouns, per Ross. Initial nasals are ubiquitous, and indeed are very common throughout New Guinea, so they are in themselves not good evidence of a relationship.
| "I" | "thou" | "s/he" | "we two" | "you two" | "we" | "you" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pPiawi | *ni-ga | *na-ga | *nu-ga | *(n)ane-ga-li(mi) | *ni-ga-li(mi) | *ane-ga, *nane-ga | *ni-ga |
| pRamu | *aŋko, *ni | *un, *nu | *man | *a-ŋk-a | *(n)o-ŋk-oa | *a-ni, *na-ni | *u-ni, *nu-ni |
| Arafundi | ɲiŋ | nan | nda | aci | niɲi | aŋ | nuŋ |
| pN Engan | *na-ba | *ne-ba | *-ba | *na-li-ba | *ɲa-li-mba | *na-ni-ma | *ɲa-ma, *ɲa-ka-ma |
Both Engan and Piawi have a dual suffix *li.
[edit] See also
[edit] Reference
- Malcom Ross (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages." In: Andrew Pawley, Robert Attenborough, Robin Hide and Jack Golson, eds, Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples, 15-66. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
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