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Tama languages

The Tama languages are a small family of three clusters of closely related languages of northern Papua New Guinea, spoken just to the south of Nuku town in eastern Sandaun Province. They are classified as subgroup of the Sepik languages. Tama is the word for 'man' in the languages that make up this group.

Yessan-Mayo and Mehek are the best documented Tama languages.[1]

Languages

Usher (2020) classifies the Tama languages as follows,[2]

Tama

Foley (2018), following Donald Laycock, provides the following classification.[1]

Tama

Kalou is actually related to Amal.[3]

Phonology

The Tama languages distinguish /r/ and /l/, unlike many other Papuan languages that have only one liquid consonant.[1]

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Laycock (1968),[4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  2. ^ Tama, New Guinea World
  3. ^ Amal–Kalou, New Guinea World
  4. ^ Laycock, Donald C. 1968. Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66.
  5. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  6. ^ Foley, W.A. "Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik-Ramu basin". In Pawley, A., Attenborough, R., Golson, J. and Hide, R. editors, Papuan Pasts: Cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. PL-572:109-144. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2005.