Asmat–Kamrau
EthnicityAsmat people etc.
Geographic
distribution		southern coast and Kamrau Bay of Indonesian New Guinea
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Subdivisions
  • Kamrau (Sabakor)
  • Asmat–Kamoro
Glottologasma1256
Map: The Asmat–Kamrau languages of New Guinea
  The Asmat–Kamrau languages
  Other Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Uninhabited

The Asmat – Kamrau Bay languages are a family of a dozen Trans–New Guinea languages spoken by the Asmat and related peoples in southern Western New Guinea. They are believed to be a recent expansion along the south coast, as they are all closely related, and there is little differentiation in their pronouns.

Languages

The languages are:[1][2]

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[5]

mn
p[t]k
b[d]ɟɡ
[ɸ]s
wrj

There is near complementary distribution between *p and *ɸ. *t and *d are marginal, appearing in only a few words. *r does not occur initially. There are no consonant clusters.

Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.

Pronouns

Ross (2005) reconstructs the proto-Asmat–Kamoro pronouns as:

sgpl
1 *no[ro]*na[re]
2 *o[ro]/we[rV]*ca[re]
3 *a[re]

Usher (2020) reconstructs the free proto–Asmat–Kamrau Bay pronouns as:[5]

Proto-Asmat–Kamrau
sgpl
1 *no-rV*na-rV
2 *o-rV*ɟa-rV
3 *a-rV
  
Proto-Kamrau
sgpl
1 *nor*nar
2 *or-or*er-er
3 *ar-ar
  
Proto-Asmat–Kamoro
sgpl
1 *no-ro*na-rV
2 *o-ro*ca-rV
3 *a-rV

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[5]

glossProto-Asmat-KamrauProto-Kamrau BayProto-Asmat-KamoroProto-AsmatProto-Muli Strait
head *uɸu*jebin*ufu*kowisi 'head/skull'*ɣo̝p 'head/hair'; *uɔndVro̝m 'head/skull'
hair *ɸini*ɸin*fini*ɸinV 'hair/feather(s)'*sin
ear *jiɸ[a/o]ne*jaɸ[a/o]m*jafane*jaɸane*ie̝pær
eye *manaN*manam*mana*mana*musiɣ
nose *miC*mik*mi*mi*mæne̝ɣ 'nose/tip'
tooth *siC*sik*sisi*sisV*ziɣ
tongue *komane*[a]mam*komane*komVne*ndupæn
foot/leg *mawu*mawu*mawu*mawi*kaŋg 'leg'
blood/red *ese*et*ese*ir 'blood'
fruit/seed/bone *eake*eke*eake
skin/bark *ɸu*pitini*pitʲini*par
breast *awo*awo*awo*abuɣ
louse *amo*om*amo*am
dog *juwuɾi*iwuɾ*juwuri*juwVɾi*i[u]bui
pig *oɸo*ok*ofo*up
bird *geɟ*sakV
egg *[a]sa*asa*sa*sa
tree/wood *ose*o*ose*to̝ 'tree'
man/male *bewu*nam 'man/person'
woman *ɟawoɟa*jawoɟa*cawoca*jipitʲi*ie̝t 'woman/wife'
sun *jawu*asi 'sun/day'*jawu*jawi*zaua
moon *buɾa*buɾa*pura*piɾa*irind
water *m[oi/ui]*moɟ*mui*mui*mo̝i
fire/firewood *usa*usa*usa*jusa*ua[nd/r] 'fire'
stone *jeta*eta*j[e]ka*mæte̝
path *matoC; *mak*mato
name *uwase*u*uwase*juwase*ur
eat/drink *n[a]-*n[a]-*n[e/a]*ne-*no̝ku
one *ɟawa[kV]*-ɟawa*cawak[e/a]*tʲawaka
two *kaboma*aboma*kapoma; *jam[i/u]nV

Evolution

Proto-Asmat-Kamoro reflexes (Voorhoeve 2005)[6] of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma, as listed in Pawley & Hammarström (2018):[7]

  • *fiti ‘fingernail’ < pTNG *mb(i,u)t(i,u)C
  • *isi ‘mosquito’ < *kasin
  • *ese ‘blood’ < *kenja
  • *masap or *masip ‘saliva’ < *si(mb,p)atV
  • *yi ‘urine’ < *[si]si
  • *asa ‘excrement’ < *asa
  • *manaka ‘eye’ < *mun(a,e,i)ka
  • *sisi ‘tooth’ < *(t,s)i(t,s)i
  • *yirama ‘night’ < *k(i,u)tama
  • *tama ‘morning’ < *k(i,u)tama
  • *na- ‘eat’ < *na-

References

  1. ↑ New Guinea World, Asmat – Kamrau Bay
  2. ↑ Usher, Timothy; Suter, Edgar (2020). "The Asmat-Muli Languages of Southwestern New Guinea" (PDF). Language & Linguistics in Melanesia. Port Moresby: Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea. 38. ISSN 0023-1959.
  3. ↑ New Guinea World, Kamrau Bay
  4. ↑ New Guinea World, Asmat–Kamoro
  5. 1 2 3 "Asmat-Kamrau Bay - newguineaworld".
  6. ↑ Voorhoeve, Clemens L. 2005. Asmat-Kamoro, Awyu-Dumut and Ok: An enquiry into their linguistic relationship. In Pawley, Andrew and Robert Attenborough and Golson, Jack and Hide, Robin (eds.), Papuan Pasts: Studies in the Cultural, Linguistic and Biological History of the Papuan-speaking Peoples, 145-166. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
  7. ↑ Pawley, 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. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.

Bibliography

  • Drabbe, Piet. 1953. Spraakkunst van de Kamoro-taal. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
  • Drabbe, Piet. 1963. Drie Asmat-dialecten. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, No. 42. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
  • 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.
  • Voorhoeve, C.L. 1965. The Flamingo Bay Dialect of the Asmat language. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, No. 46. The Hague. doi:10.26530/OAPEN_613367
  • 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: The Australian National University.
  • Voorhoeve, C.L. 1975. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist, Preliminary Classification, Language Maps, Wordlists. Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 31. Canberra: The Australian National University.
  • Voorhoeve, C.L. 1980. The Asmat Languages of Irian Jaya. Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 64. Canberra: The Australian National University.
  • Wurm, Stephan Adolphe. 1983. The Papuan Languages of Oceania. Ars Linguistica 7. Tübingen: Narr.
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