Tama
Geographic
distribution		Sepik River basin, Papua New Guinea: just to the south of Nuku town in eastern Sandaun Province
Linguistic classificationSepik
Glottologsepi1256
The Sepik languages as classified by Foley (2018)

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]

gloss Mehek Pahi Yessan-Mayo[6] Yessan-Mayo (Warasai dialect)
head terfa taraʔwey tara
ear namra wapray wan wan
eye lakwo niaʔwey la; lə la
nose wiliŋki fikihinwi raŋkɨ; raŋki haŋki
tooth mpi piaʔwey lər; lir rir
tongue tawul tafəki tawlə kawul
leg suwa huwa towa; warə sowa
louse nunum nunum nɨ; ni niʔ
dog wala waʔay wala wale
pig for
bird fenre feydey ap apu
egg lakwo yaʔwey yen; yɨn yan
blood kefu nefum nap nap
bone yefa yefa yaha
skin liki fuhum was
breast muku muwi mu; mukw mukw
tree moː muy me meʔ
man tama tama tama; tamə kama
woman tawa tawa taː ka
sun nampul napuy yabəl; yampəl yampəl
moon nekwa nefʔa lup; lɨyf lüp
water okwu oʔwi ok; okw okw
fire kiri irʔi k-er; kər kər
stone arkwo hijopey pa papə
eat a(m)
one wurɨ
two lisifu fes kes

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.
  • 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. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
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