Sepik Hill languages
| Sepik Hill | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Sepik Hills, south-central East Sepik Province, in the Sepik River basin of Papua New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Sepik
|
| Glottolog | sepi1258 |
 The Sepik languages as classified by Foley (2018). The Sepik Hill languages are in green. | |
The Sepik Hill languages form the largest and most ramified branch of the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea. They are spoken along the southern margin of the Sepik floodplain in the foothills of Central Range of south-central East Sepik Province.
Languages
The languages according to Usher (2020) are,[1]
- Sepik Hills
- Saniyo-Hiyewe
- Southwest Sepik Hills: Niksek (Paka, Gabiano), Piame, Hewa
- Bahinemo–Berinomo
- East Sepik Hills (Alamblak etc.)
The languages according to Foley (2018) are:[2]
- Sepik Hill
- Eastern (Alamblak etc.)
- Central (Bahinemo etc.)
- Western: Saniyo-Hiyewe, Paka (Setiali), Gabiano (Niksek), Piame, Bikaru,[clarification needed] Umairof, Hewa
Other than disagreement at to what is a language or a dialect (Glottolog, for example, concludes that the 'Bikaru' language is probably spurious, and doesn't list Umairof at all), the only difference from Usher is in combining Sanio with the Southwest Sepik Hills languages as a Western branch.
Pronouns
Pronouns in Sepik Hill languages:[2]
pronoun Sare Alamblak Saniyo-Hiyewe 1sg an na ane 2sg nɨ ni ne 3sg.m rɨ rər rei 3sg.f sɨ rət 1du nond nə noto-(si) 2du fin nifɨn fene-si 3du fɨ rəf rowe-si 1pl nom nəm nomo 2pl mɨ nikə(m) fene 3pl rom rəm rowe
References
- ^ Sepik Hills, NewGuineaWorld
- ^ a b 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.
- 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.