Iwam language

May River Iwam, or just Iwam, is a language of Papua New Guinea.

May River Iwam
RegionEast Sepik Province
Native speakers
3,000 (1998)[1]
Sepik
Language codes
ISO 639-3iwm
Glottologiwam1256[2]

It is spoken in Iyomempwi (4.24117°S 141.89271°E / -4.24117; 141.89271 (Imombi)), Mowi (4.294971°S 141.929199°E / -4.294971; 141.929199 (Mowi)), and Premai villages of Tunap-Hunstein Rural LLG in East Sepik Province, and other villages on the May River.[3][4]

Phonology

Vowels
Vowels[5]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open a

In non-final positions, /u/ /o/, /i/, and /e/ are [ʊ] [ɔ], [ɪ], and [ɛ], respectively. /ə/ appears only in nonfinal syllables. When adjacent to nasal consonants, vowels are nasalized; nasalization may also occur when adjacent to word boundaries.[5]

Consonants
Consonants[5]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop p t k
Fricative s h
Flap r
Approximant j w

/p/ and /k/ are voiced fricatives ([β] and [ɣ]) respectively) when intervocalic and unreleased when final (/t/ is also unreleased when final). /ŋ/ is a nasal flap ([ɾ̃]) word-initially and between vowels. /s/ is [ts] initially and may otherwise be palatalized [sʲ].[5] Sequences of any consonant and /w/ are neutralized before /u/ where an offglide is always heard.

Phonotactics

Bilabial and velar consonants and /n/ may be followed by /w/ when initial. Other initial clusters include /pr/, /kr/, /hr/, /hw/, and /hn/ and final clusters are /w/ or /j/ followed by any consonant except for /h/ or /ŋ/.[5]

Pronouns

May River Iwam pronouns:[6]:282

sgdupl
1 ka/anikərərkərəm
2 kikorkom
3m si sor səm
3f sa

Noun classes

Like the Wogamus languages, May River Iwam has five noun classes:[6]

classsemantic categoryprefixexample
class 1 male human referentsnu- (adult males);
ru- (uninitiated or immature males)		yenkam nu-t
man class.1-one
‘one man’
class 2 female human, children,
or other animate referents		a(o)-owi a-ois
duck class.2-two
‘two ducks’
class 3 large objectskwu-ana kwu-(o)t
hand class.3-one
‘a big hand’
class 4 small objectsha-ana ha-(o)t
hand class.4-one
‘a small hand’
class 5 long objectshwu-ana hwu-(o)t
hand class.5-one
‘a long hand’

As shown by the example above for ana ‘hand’, a noun can take on different classes depending on the physical characteristics being emphasized.

Notes
  1. May River Iwam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Iwam". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
  4. United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  5. Laycock (1965:115)
  6. 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. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.

References
  • Laycock, D.C. (1965). "Three Upper Sepik phonologies". Oceanic Linguistics. University of Hawai'i Press. 4 (1/2): 113–118. doi:10.2307/3622917. JSTOR 3622917.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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