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Tamolan languages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tamolan
Guam River
Geographic
distribution
Guam River, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classificationRamu
  • Ramu proper
    • Tamolan–Ataitan
      • Tamolan
Language codes
Glottologtamo1242

The Tamolan languages are a small family of clearly related languages spoken in the region of the Guam River in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea.

Languages

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The Tamolan languages are:

  • Tamolan
    • Inapang (dialect continuum)
      • Midsivindi
      • Itutang (Isarikan)
      • Yigavesakama
    • Chini–Iski

Kominimung and Igana are said to also be Tamolan languages, but no data has been collected to establish that.

Tamolan is classified among the Ramu languages of northern Papua New Guinea.

Phonemes

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Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[1]

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal *m *n
Plosive plain *p *t *k
prenasalized *ᵐb *ⁿd *ᵑg
Affricate *ⁿdz
Fricative *s
Liquid *w *j

Vowels are *i *ʉ *u *a.

Pronouns

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Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as:[1]

sg du pl
1 *uku *aŋgʉ *ani
2 *un *uŋgʉ *uni
3 *an, *ma ? ?

Plus 1sg object *na.

Proto-Tamolan–Ataitan (Proto-Guam–Moam) is very similar, and nearly identical to Proto-Moam.

References

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