Sepik–Ramu languages explained

Sepik–Ramu
Acceptance:	obsolete
Familycolor:	Papuan
Family:	Proposed language family
Child4:	Leonhard Schultze (Walio–Papi)
Child5:	Tayap
Glotto:	none

The Sepik–Ramu languages are an obsolete language family of New Guinea linking the Sepik, Ramu, Nor–Pondo (Lower Sepik), Leonhard Schultze (Walio–Papi) and Yuat families, together with the Taiap language isolate, and proposed by Donald Laycock and John Z'graggen in 1975.^[1]

Sepik–Ramu would consist of a hundred languages of the Sepik and Ramu river basins of northern Papua New Guinea, but spoken by only 200,000 people in all. The languages tend to have simple phonologies, with few consonants or vowels and usually no tones.

The best known Sepik–Ramu language is Iatmül. The most populous are Iatmül's fellow Ndu languages Abelam and Boiken, with about 35,000 speakers apiece.

Malcolm Ross and William A. Foley separately re-evaluated the Sepik–Ramu hypothesis in 2005. They both found no evidence that it forms a valid family. However, all of the constituent branches, except for Yuat within Ramu, remain individually valid in his evaluation. Ross links Nor–Pondo to Ramu in a Ramu–Lower Sepik proposal, places Leonhard Schultze (tentatively broken up into Walio and Papi) within an extended Sepik family, and treats Yuat and Taiap as independent families.

Classification

Ethnologue

This list is a mirror of the classification in Ethnologue 15.

• Sepik–Ramu phylum (based on Laycock 1973)
  • Taiap isolate
  • Leonhard Schultze stock
    • Walio family (4 languages)
    • Papi family (2 languages)
  • Nor–Pondo stock (6 languages)
  • Ramu subphylum (37 languages)
    • Ramu superstock (29 languages)
      • Grass stock (5 languages)
      • Arafundi family (2 languages)
      • Annaberg stock (3 languages)
      • Ruboni stock (8 languages)
        • Ottilien family
        • Misegian family
      • Goam stock (11 languages)
        • Ataitan family
        • Tamolan family
    • Yuat–Langam superstock (13 languages)
      • Mongol–Langam family
      • Yuat–Maramba stock
        • Maramba isolate (unattested)
        • Yuat family
  • Sepik subphylum (50 languages) [see subclassification at that article]

Foley (2018)

Uncontroversially coherent subgroups accepted by Foley (2018) are:^[2]

• Sepik (11 groups)
  • Ndu (Middle Sepik?)
  • Nukuma (Middle Sepik?)
  • Yerakai (Middle Sepik?)
  • Yellow River (Middle Sepik?)
  • Tama
  • Sepik Hill
  • Ram
  • Wogamus (Upper Sepik?)
  • Iwam (Upper Sepik?)
  • Abau (Upper Sepik?)
  • Amal

• Ramu (5 groups)
  • Middle Ramu
  • Tamolan
  • Ataitan (Tanggu)
  • Ottilien–Misegian
  • Grass
• Lower Sepik
• Leonhard Schultze (Walio-Papi)
  • Walio
  • Papi
• Yuat
• Taiap

Lexical comparison

Below is a comparison of proto-Ndu, proto-Lower Sepik, and proto-Ottilien reconstructed by and listed in Foley (2005).^[3]

gloss			proto-Ottilien
man, person	ntɨw	nor	namot
water	ŋkɨw	arɨm
fire	ya	awr	s(u)ək
sun	ɲa		ra(u)
moon	mpapmɨw	m(w)il ?	kər(v)i
breast	mɨwɲ	nɨŋgay	mɨr
tooth	nɨmpɨy	sisiŋk ?	nda(r)
bone	apə	sariŋamp	ɣar
tongue	tɨkŋa	minɨŋ	mi(m)
eye	mɨyR	tambri	rəmeak
nose	tam(w)ə		ŋgum
leg	man	namuŋk	or ?
ear	wan	kwand-
name	cɨ		ɣi
pig	mp(w)al	numpran	rəkəm
snake	kampwəy	wakɨn	ndop
mosquito	kɨvɨy	naŋgun	ŋgit
eat	kɨ	am(b)	amb
go	yɨ	wa	saŋg
come	ya	ya	kɨp
sit	rə	sa	mbirak
stand	rap(m)		-tik
one	nək	mb(w)ia-	kaku
two		ri-pa-	mbuniŋ
three		-ram

Due to its highly divergent lexicon, Foley does not classify Sepik with Lower Sepik and Ramu.

See also

• Papuan languages
• Northwest Papuan languages

Notes and References

1. Laycock, D. C. and Z'graggen, John A. 1975. The Sepik-Ramu Phylum. In Wurm, S.A. (ed.), Papuan Languages and the New Guinea Linguistic Scene, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study 1, 729-763. Australian National University.
2. Book: Foley, William A. . William A. Foley . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 197–432 . 978-3-11-028642-7.
3. Book: Foley, William A. . William A. Foley . 2005 . Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik-Ramu basin . Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples . Canberra . Pacific Linguistics . 0858835622 . 67292782 . Andrew Pawley . Andrew Pawley . Robert Attenborough . Robin Hide . Jack Golson . 109 - 144 .