Left May-Kwomtari languages

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The Left May-Kwomtari languages are a small family of Papuan languages proposed by Malcolm Ross, which links the Left May (Arai) family with the Kwomtari proposal (Loving & Bass 1964).

[edit] Classification

Left May or Arai family: Rocky Peak (Yinibu), Nakwi, Iteri, Bo, Ama, Nimo, and Owiniga
Kwomtari family:
- Guriaso language
- Kwomtari-Nai: Kwomtari, Nai (Biaka)
Fas family: Baibai, Fas
Pyu family-level isolate (included in the Kwomtari languages by Laycock (1973), but not addressed by Ross)

Note: most classifications, including Ethnologue, mix up the membership of the Kwomtari and Fas families. This has been corrected here.

Timothy Usher at the Rosetta Project states that most classifications, including Ross's, perpetuate an early copy error, placing Fas in the Kwomtari family and Nai in the same family as Baibai. This contradicts the original classification of Loving and Bass, which was confirmed in 1983 by the Dutch field linguist Wietze Baron. (See Kwomtari languages.) Taking this into account weakens the case for both the Left May-Kwomtari and the Kwomtari-Fas proposals. Some relevant pronouns are shown below (Baron 1983):

family	language	I	thou	he	she	they
Kwomtari	Kwomtari	mɔro	ɔno	ɛto		topai
	Nai	nɔmbwirɛ	wonɔ	ɛni		tɔmwɔ
	Guriaso	nan	waw	amo
Fas	Baibai	ɛtyɛ	aŋgi	nɛfɛ, wɔ		anyɛ
Fas	Fas	tɛ	hay	wɔ(β)		nəb
Arai	Yinibu	asi, na-	na, nɛni, nan-	ani, w-	wa, tat-	mwa
Pyu		kwa	no	na

It appears that for proto-Arai and proto-Fas a pronoun *atie might be reconstructed for "I", and a *wa for "s/he", while for Arai and Kwomtari only a pronoun *amwa might be reconstructed for "they". No pronouns obviously connect Kwomtari and Fas, nor is there enough to connect any of these families to Pyu.

[edit] See also

Papuan languages

[edit] References

Baron, Wietze (1983b). "Kwomtari survey". , posted at: [1]
Laycock, Donald C. (1973). Sepik languages: checklist and preliminary classification. Canberra: Dept. of Linguistcs, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. ISBN 9780858830844. OCLC 5027628.
Loving, Richard; Jack Bass (1964). Languages of the Amanab sub-district. Port Moresby: Department of Information and Extension Services. OCLC 17101737.
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.