Massep language
| Massep | |
|---|---|
| Wotaf | |
| Region | Papua New Guinea |
| Ethnicity | 85 (2000)[1][2] |
Native speakers | 30% or less (2000)[1] |
unclassified (possible language isolate) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mvs |
| Glottolog | mass1263 |
| ELP | Masep |
Massep (Masep, Potafa, Wotaf) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by under 50 people in a single village. Despite the small number of speakers, however, language use is vigorous. Donohue and colleagues (2002) conclude that it is definitely not a Kwerba language, as it had been classified by Wurm (1975), and they did not notice connections to any other language family. Ethnologue and Glottolog list it as a language isolate,[1][3] but it has not been included in wider surveys such as Ross (2005). The pronouns are not dissimilar from those Trans–New Guinea languages, but Massep is geographically distant from that family.
References
- ^ a b c Massep at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Massep language at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Glottologwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
- Clouse, Duane, Mark Donohue and Felix Ma. 2002. "Survey report of the north coast of Irian Jaya."[1]