Tabo language explained

Waia
Nativename:	Tabo
Region:	Western Province, Papua New Guinea
Speakers:	3,000
Date:	2002
Ref:	e18
Familycolor:	Papuan
Fam1:	Language isolate or Trans-Fly
Iso3:	knv
Glotto:	tabo1241
Glottorefname:	Tabo
Glottofoot:	no
Map:	Waia language.svg
Mapcaption:	Map: The Waia language of New Guinea

Tabo, also known as Waia (Waya), is a Papuan language of Western Province, Papua New Guinea, just north of the Fly River delta. The language has also been known as Hiwi and Hibaradai.

Tabo means ‘word, mouth’ and is the name of the language, whereas Waia is the name of one of the ten villages where Tabo is spoken.^[1]

Classification

Tabo is not close to other languages. Evans (2018) classifies it as a language isolate.^[1] Usher (2020) includes it in the Trans-Fly family.^[2] Part of the uncertainty is because many of the attested words of Tabo are loans from Gogodala or Kiwai, reducing the number of native Tabo words that can be used for comparison and thus making classification difficult.

Demographics

In Gogodala Rural LLG, Western Province, Papua New Guinea, Tabo is spoken in:^{[3] [4]}

• Lower Aramia River: Alagi (-8.0538°N 142.9617°W), Galu, Saiwase (-7.9582°N 143.2032°W), and Waya (-7.9849°N 143.182°W) villages
• Bamu River

Alikinapi village

• Lower Fly River: Kenedibi (-8.2407°N 143.3804°W), Urio (-8.2391°N 143.3943°W), and Wagumi-Sarau villages
• Segero Creek

Segero village (-8.2321°N 143.5367°W)

It is spoken by 3,500 people mainly in the southern part Bamu Rural LLG of Western Province.^[1]

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Tabo is given below.^[1]

Consonants: b, d, ɡ, p, t, k, m, n, l, w, j, h, s

Vowels: i, e, æ, a, o, u

Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words are from Reesink (1976) and Wurm (1973), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:^[5]

gloss	Tabo
head	wato
hair	hinibó; hinibɔ
ear	galo
eye	ba ͥdi; baidi
nose	dopo; dɔ:pɔ
tooth	lalo; lolo
tongue	mɛlpila; merapira
leg	nato
louse	tamani
dog	gaha
bird	hola; hola:
egg	kikipo
blood	hawi; haᵘwi
bone	goha; goha:
skin	tama
breast	nono
tree	ke'ha; kɛha
man	dubu; tubu
woman	kamena
sun	kadepa; kadɛpa
moon	manome; manomi
water	bea
fire	koe; kue:
stone	-nadi; naki
road, path	gabo
name	mahiro; mahiřo
eat	hɛna; nɛ:na
one	kapia
two	nete'ewa

Further reading

• Schlatter, Tim. 2003. Tabo language grammar sketch (Aramia River Dialect). Unpublished m.s.

External links

• TransNewGuinea.org database

Notes and References

1. Book: Evans, Nicholas . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . The languages of Southern New Guinea . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 641–774 . 978-3-11-028642-7.
2. https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/east-trans-fly NewGuineaWorld
3. Web site: Papua New Guinea languages . Ethnologue

   Languages of the World

   . 22nd . Eberhard . David M. . Simons . Gary F. . Fennig . Charles D. . 2019 . Dallas . SIL International.
4. Web site: Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup . United Nations in Papua New Guinea . Humanitarian Data Exchange . 1.31.9 . 2018.
5. Web site: TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea . Greenhill . Simon . 2016 . 2020-11-05.