Mawes language

Mawes
RegionPapua: Sarmi Regency, Bonggo District - Mawes Dai, Mawes Mukti, and Mawes Wres villages to the west of the Buri River
Native speakers
850 (2006)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mgk
Glottologmawe1251
ELPMawes

Mawes is a Papuan language of Indonesia.

Usher (2020) proposes that it may be related to the Kwerbic languages.[2] Foley (2018) classifies Mawes as a language isolate,[3] and so does Hammarström (2010).[4]

Pronouns

Pronouns are:[3]

sg pl
1 kidam inim
2 nam nɛm
3 ɛbɛ mia

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Mawes listed in Foley (2018):[3]

Mawes basic vocabulary
gloss Mawes
‘bird’ ikinin
‘blood’ wɛrɛi
‘bone’ tuan
‘ear’ bɛr
‘eat’ nan
‘egg’ siwin
‘eye’ nonsum
‘fire’ kani
‘leg, foot’ yaʔ
‘louse’ sene
‘name’ dimanɛ
‘one’ mɛndakai
‘see’ nomo
‘sky’ kowan
‘stone’ fɛt
‘sun’ ɛsar
‘tooth’ wan
‘tree’ dengkin
‘two’ yakɛneu
‘water’ bo
‘woman’ yei

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[5] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[6]

gloss Mawes
head defar
hair tere
eye nonsom
tooth wan
leg ija
dog wede
pig was
bird ikinin
egg siwin
blood werei
bone tuan
skin dukunen
tree deŋkin
man ke
sun esar
water bo
fire kani
stone feyt
name dimane
eat nano
one mendakai
two yakenew

Sentences

Of the few sentences that have been documented for Mawes, some example sentences are:[3]: 497–8 

(1)

ɛbɛ

3SG

marsya

yesterday

nomtak

come

ɛbɛ marsya nomtak

3SG yesterday come

‘He came yesterday.’

(2)

wɛdɛ

dog

ɛbɛ

3SG

ketes

bite

wɛdɛ ɛbɛ ketes

dog 3SG bite

‘The dog bit him.’

(3)

ke-me

man-?

totoso

money

kida-wɛn

1SG-POSS

mamɛnta

father

fɛn

DAT/ALL

tamu(k)

give

ke-me totoso kida-wɛn mamɛnta fɛn tamu(k)

man-? money 1SG-POSS father DAT/ALL give

‘That man gave money to my father.’

(4)

ɛbɛ-mɛ

3sg-?

dengkin

tree

nambuak

machete

kom

INSTR

sorna

cut

ɛbɛ-mɛ dengkin nambuak kom sorna

3sg-? tree machete INSTR cut

‘He is cutting wood with a machete.’

(5)

ke-me

man-?

sau

village

fɛn

DAT/ALL

banak

go

ke-me sau fɛn banak

man-? village DAT/ALL go

‘That man went to the village.’

(6)

ke-me

man-?

sau-er

village-ABL

nom

come

ke-me sau-er nom

man-? village-ABL come

‘That man came from the village.’

(7)

ke-me

man-?

yei

woman

dete

COMIT

banak

go

ke-me yei dete banak

man-? woman COMIT go

‘That man went with his wife.’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);

Further reading

  • Wambaliau, Theresia. 2006. Survey Report on the Mawes Language in Papua, Indonesia. (in Indonesian). Unpublished manuscript. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
  • Hammarström, Harald. 2010. The genetic position of the Mawes language. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Languages of Papua 2. Manokwari, Indonesia, 8–12 February 2010.

References

  1. ^ Mawes at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ New Guinea World
  3. ^ a b c d Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest New Guinea". 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. 433–568. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  4. ^ Harald Hammarström. 2010. The Genetic Position of the Mawes Language. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Languages of Papua 2, 8–12 February 2010, Manokwari, Indonesia.
  5. ^ Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-B31
  6. ^ Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.

External links

  • Rosetta Project: Mawes Swadesh list
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