| Marangis | |
| Nativename: | Watam |
| States: | Papua New Guinea |
| Region: | Madang Province, East Sepik Province |
| Speakers: | 590 |
| Date: | 2003 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam2: | Ramu proper |
| Fam5: | Watam |
| Iso3: | wax |
| Glotto: | wata1253 |
| Glottorefname: | Watam |
Marangis a.k.a. Watam is a Ramu language of Papua New Guinea. Like Bosmun, it shares a number of irregular plural markers with the Lower Sepik languages, supporting the proposal of a Ramu – Lower Sepik language family.
It is spoken in the two villages of:[1] [2]
The pronominal system of Watam has a four-way distinction, with there being a paucal ("a few", "more than two") number for pronouns in addition to singular, dual, and plural.
| person | singular | dual | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | yak | aŋga | apak | ae | |
| 2nd | u | noŋgo | niŋga | ne | |
| 3rd | ma | miŋga | miŋga | min |
Nominal plural formatives include:[3]
| gloss | singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ‘ear’ | kwar | kwair | |
| ‘elbow’ | tutup | tutpemb | |
| ‘buttocks’ | tok | toke | |
| ‘leg’ | or | orar | |
| ‘man’ | namot | namtar | |
| ‘girl’ | namoŋ | navgor | |
| ‘nose’ | ŋgum | gubeb | |
| ‘bandicoot’ | maŋem | maŋbar | |
| ‘sago’ | wak | wik | |
| ‘betelnut’ | meɲjak | miɲjik |
Watam verbal conjugation for the verb ndo ‘to see’:[3]
| tense | verbal form | |
|---|---|---|
| present | ndo-ta | |
| present | ndo-ri | |
| future | ndo-na(n) | |
| imperative | ndo |
Languages of the World
. 22nd . Eberhard . David M. . Simons . Gary F. . Fennig . Charles D. . 2019 . Dallas . SIL International.