The Awyu–Dumut languages (other languages not shown)
Other Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited
The Greater Awyu or Digul River languages, known in earlier classifications with more limited scope as Awyu–Dumut (Awyu–Ndumut), are a family of perhaps a dozen Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in eastern West Papua in the region of the Digul River. Six of the languages are sufficiently attested for a basic description; it is not clear how many of the additional names (in parentheses below) may be separate languages.
History
The Awyu (pronounced like English Ow you) and Awyu–Dumut families were identified by Peter Drabbe in the 1950s.
Voorhoeve included them in his proposed Central and South New Guinea group.[2] As part of Central and South New Guinea, they form part of the original proposal for Trans–New Guinea.[3]
Classification
The classification below is based on Usher[4] and de Vries et al. (2012),[5] who used morphological innovations to determine relatedness, which can be obscured by lexical loanwords.
Sawi is classified on pronominal data, as the morphological data used for the rest of the family is not available.
Pawley and Hammarström (2018) exclude Awbono-Bayono, treating it as a separate family.[6]
Various other languages can be found in the literature. Airo-Sumaxage (Airo-Sumaghage)[7] is listed in Wurm, Foley, etc., but not in the University of Amsterdam survey and has been dropped by Ethnologue. Ethnologue lists a 'Central Awyu', but this is not attested as a distinct language (U. Amsterdam). In general, the names in Ethnologue are quite confused, and older editions speak of names from Wurm (1982), such as Mapi, Kia, Upper Digul, Upper Kaeme, which are names of language surveys along the rivers of those names, and may actually refer to Ok languages rather than to Awyu.
van den Heuvel & Fedden (2014) argue that Greater Awyu and Greater Ok are not genetically related, but that their similarities are due to intensive contact.[8]
Ross (2005) reconstructs the pronouns of the Awyu–Dumut branch as follows:
sg
pl
1
*nu-p
*na-gu-p
2
*gu-p
*ga-gu-p
3
*e-p, *[n]ege-p, *yu-p
*ya-gu-p
The suffix *-p and the change of the final TNG *a vowel to *u do not appear in the possessive pronouns: *na, *ga, *ya/wa, *na-ga, *ga-ga, *ya-ga.
Basic vocabulary
Healey (1970) and Voorhoeve (2000)
The following selected reconstructions of Proto-Awyu-Dumut, Proto-Awyu, and Proto-Dumut by Voorhoeve are from Healey (1970)[10] and Voorhoeve (2000),[11] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[12]
gloss
Proto-Awyu-Dumut
Proto-Awyu
Proto-Dumut
head
*kɑibɑn; *xaiban
*xaiban; *xɑibɑn
*kɑbiɑn; *kebian
hair
*möxö; *muk; *ron
*mox; *mux; *ron
*mökö-ron; *muk; *ron
ear
*turun
*turun
*turutop; *turu=top
eye
*kerop
*kero
*kerop
nose
*togut
*togut
tongue
*fɔgat; *fɔgɛt; *pogɑt
*fagɛ; *fɑge
*ogat; *pɑgɑt
louse
*gut
*go; *gu; *ɑgu
*gut
dog
*angay; *ɑgɑi; *set
*sɛ; *(y)ange; *(y)angi; *yɑgi
*agay; *ɑgɑi; *tit
pig
*wi
*wi
*uy
bird
*yet
*yi
*yet
egg
*wɑidin
*mugo
*wɑdin
blood
*gom
*gon
*gom
bone
*bogi
*mit
skin
*kɑt; *xa(t)
*xɑ; *xa
*kotay; *kɑtɑy
breast
*ɑm; *om
*om; **om
*om; *ɔm
tree
*yin
*yin
*in
woman
*ran; *rɑn
*ran; *rɑn
*ran; *rɑn
sky
**xuit
*xuito
*kut
sun
*seyɑt
*sɑt
moon
*wɑkot
*wɑkot
water
*ox
*ɔx; *óxo
*ok
fire
*yin
*yin
stone
*irop
*ero; *iro
*irop
name
*füp; *pip
*fi
*fip; *üp
eat
*ɑde; *en; *ɛn-
*ɑde-; *en; *ɛn-
*ɑde; *en; *en-
two
*rumo; *rumon
*okorumon; **ok=rumɔ(n)
*irumon; *rumo
Usher (2020)
Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-Digul River and lower-level reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[9]
^Voorhoeve, C.L. 1968. “The Central and South New Guinea Phylum: a report on the language situation in south New Guinea. Pacific Linguistics, Series A, No. 16: 1-17. Canberra: Australian National University.
^McElhanon, Kenneth A.and C.L. Voorhoeve. 1970. The Trans-New Guinea phylum: explorations in deep-level genetic relationships. Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 16. Canberra: Australian National University.
^Lourens de Vries, Ruth Wester, & Wilco van den Heuvel. 2012. "The Greater Awyu language family of West Papua", pp. 269–312 of Hammarström & van den Heuvel (eds.), History, Contact and Classification of Papuan Languages. (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia Special Issue). Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.
^ abPawley, Andrew; Hammarström, Harald (2018). "The Trans New Guinea family". 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. 21–196. ISBN978-3-11-028642-7.
^van den Heuvel, W. & Fedden, S. (2014). Greater Awyu and Greater Ok: Inheritance or Contact? Oceanic Linguistics 53(1), 1-36. University of Hawai'i Press.
^Healey, A. 1970. Proto-Awyu-Dumut Phonology. In Wurm, S.A. and Laycock, D. C. (eds). Pacific Linguistic Studies in honour of Arthur Capell. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
^Voorhoeve, C. L. 2000. Proto Awyu-Dumut phonology II. In A. Pawley, M. Ross, & D. Tryon (Eds.), The Boy from Bundaberg: studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton (pp. 361–381). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN0858835622. OCLC67292782.
Further reading
Proto-Awyu-Dumut. TransNewGuinea.org. From (1) Voorhoeve, C. L. 2000. Proto Awyu-Dumut phonology II. In A. Pawley, M. Ross, & D. Tryon (Eds.), The Boy from Bundaberg: studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton (pp. 361–381). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. ; (2) Healey, A. 1970. Proto-Awyu-Dumut Phonology. In Wurm, S.A. and Laycock, D. C. (eds). Pacific Linguistic Studies in honour of Arthur Capell. Pacific Linguistics: Canberra.
Proto-Awyu. TransNewGuinea.org. From (1) Voorhoeve, C. L. 2000. Proto Awyu-Dumut phonology II. In A. Pawley, M. Ross, & D. Tryon (Eds.), The Boy from Bundaberg: studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton (pp. 361–381). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. ; (2) Healey, A. 1970. Proto-Awyu-Dumut Phonology. In Wurm, S.A. and Laycock, D. C. (eds). Pacific Linguistic Studies in honour of Arthur Capell. Pacific Linguistics: Canberra.
Proto-Dumut. TransNewGuinea.org. From (1) Voorhoeve, C. L. 2000. Proto Awyu-Dumut phonology II. In A. Pawley, M. Ross, & D. Tryon (Eds.), The Boy from Bundaberg: studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton (pp. 361–381). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. ; (2) Healey, A. 1970. Proto-Awyu-Dumut Phonology. In Wurm, S.A. and Laycock, D. C. (eds). Pacific Linguistic Studies in honour of Arthur Capell. Pacific Linguistics: Canberra.
