Upper Yuat languages explained

Upper Yuat
Also Known As:	Upper Yuat River
Region:	Upper Yuat River watershed, Papua New Guinea
Familycolor:	Papuan
Fam1:	Northeast New Guinea and/or Trans–New Guinea
Fam2:	Madang – Upper Yuat
Child1:	Arafundi
Child2:	Piawi
Glotto:	none

The Upper Yuat languages consist of two small language families, namely Arafundi and Piawi, spoken in the region of the upper Yuat River of New Guinea. The connection was first suggested by William A. Foley and confirmed by Timothy Usher, who further links them to the Madang languages.^[1]

Upper Yuat languages display more typological similarities with Trans-New Guinea than the other neighboring language families of the Sepik-Ramu basin (namely the Lower Sepik-Ramu and Yuat families). The Madang languages are frequently included in Trans–New Guinea classifications, but the connection is not yet demonstrated.

The Piawi languages are morphologically much simpler than the Arafundi languages.

Linguistic varieties

Foley (2018) lists the following linguistic varieties.

Upper Yuat

• Piawi languages

Harway (Wiyaw / Waibuk), Pinai-Hagahai (Pinaye, Aramo / Aramaue)

• Arafundi languages

Awiakay, Lower Arafundi, Upper Arafundi, Imboin

Pronouns

Pronouns are:^[2]

Proto-Upper Yuat pronouns! !! singular !! plural

1st person	ni	an ~ *aŋ
2nd person	na	ne
3rd person	nu

The individual languages are as follows:^[2]

	Harway	Hagahai	Pinai		Lower Arafundi	Upper Arafundi	Awiakay
	nɨ-ɡə	ŋɨ-ɡə	nɨ-ɡa		ɲɨŋ	niŋ	niŋ
	na-ɡo	na-ɣə	na-ɡa		nan	nan	nan
	nu-ɡʷə	nə-ɣʷə			an		an
					as	as	as
					nɨɲ	nen	neɲ
	an-ɡə	an-ɡə	nanə-ɡa		aŋ		aŋ
	ɲɨ-ɡə	ɲe-ɡə	ɲi-ɡa		noŋ	noŋ	noŋ

3rd-person *nu (number uncertain) corresponds to Piawi 3 singular and Arafundi 2/3 plural, *ne to Piawi 2/3 plural and Arafundi 2/3 dual.

Phonology

Upper Yuat languages typically have 7 vowels:^[2]

i	ɨ	u
e	ə	o
	a

Further reading

• Davies, J. and Comrie, B. "A linguistic survey of the Upper Yuat". In Adams, K., Lauck, L., Miedema, J., Welling, F., Stokhof, W., Flassy, D., Oguri, H., Collier, K., Gregerson, K., Phinnemore, T., Scorza, D., Davies, J., Comrie, B. and Abbott, S. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 22. A-63:275-312. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985.

Notes and References

1. https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/madang-upper-yuat-river/upper-yuat-river New Guinea World, Upper Yuat River
2. Book: Foley, William A. . 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.