Duwet language

Duwet
Guwot, Waing
Spoken in New Guinea
Native speakers 400  (date missing)
Language family
Language codes
ISO 639-3 gve

Duwet, also known as Guwot or Waing, is an aberrant member of the Busu subgroup of Lower Markham languages in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Duwet is spoken by about 400 people and appears to have been heavily influenced by its neighboring Nabak language (also called Wain) of the Papuan Trans–New Guinea languages.

Contents

Morphology

Pronouns and person markers

Subject prefixes

Person Singular –past Singular +past Plural –past Plural +past
1st person nga- ngga- manga- manga-
2nd person ngu- nggu- manga- manga-
3rd person ngi- nggi- ngi- nggi-

Numerals

Traditional Duwet numerals include only three basic forms: 'one', 'two', and 'hand (= five)'.

Numeral Term Gloss
1 ta(gine)/ta(ine) 'one'
2 seik 'two'
3 seik mba ta 'two and one'
4 seik mba seik 'two and two'
5 lima-ngg 'hand-my'

External links

References

^ Susanne Holzknecht (1989). The Markham Languages of Papua New Guinea. Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 0-85883-394-8.