• Source: Lower Sepik languages

The Lower Sepik a.k.a. Nor–Pondo languages are a small language family of East Sepik Province in northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by K Laumann in 1951 under the name Nor–Pondo, and included in Donald Laycock's now-defunct 1973 Sepik–Ramu family.




Classification


The original conception of the family, under the name Nor–Pondo, is as follows:

Malcolm Ross (2005) broke up the Nor branch (and thus renamed the family Lower Sepik) because Murik does not share the characteristic /p/s of the first- and second-person pronouns of Kopar and the Pondo languages, so the latter may form a group: Murik vs Kopar–Pondo. Ross classified Lower Sepik as one branch of a Ramu–Lower Sepik language family.
Foley (2005) tentatively proposes that Chambri and Angoram may be primary branches: Nor, Chambari, Karawari–Yimas, Angoram. Usher, following Foley, keeps Nor together and breaks up Pondo. Neither accept the connection to Ramu.




= Foley (2018) and Usher (2020)

=
Foley (2018) and Usher (2020) agree on the following classification.

Lower Sepik family
Kopar–Murik (Nor)
Murik
Kopar
Angoram
Chambri
Karawari–Yimas
Karawari
Yimas
Foley notes that Angoram appears to be closer to Murik–Kopar, and Chambri to Karawari–Yimas, but Foley (2018: 213) leaves them as separate branches pending further evidence.




Phonology


Except for Yimas-Karawari, Lower Sepik languages typically have the following six-vowel system.

Yimas-Karawari has only four vowels.




Proto-language






= Pronouns

=
The pronouns reconstructed for the proto-language are,

Proto–Lower Sepik (Ross)

Proto-Nor–Pondo (Foley)




= Lexicon

=
A phonological reconstruction of proto-Lower Sepik has been proposed by Foley (2005). Foley's (2005) lexical reconstructions are provided below.

Proto-Lower Sepik reconstructions by Foley (2005)

For comparisons with the language isolate Tayap, see Tayap language#Classification.




Footnotes






Further reading



Proto-Lower-Sepik. TransNewGuinea.org. From (1) Foley, W.A. 1986. The Papuan languages of New Guinea, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; (2) Foley, W.A. 1986. The Papuan languages of New Guinea, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Abbott, S. "Nor-Pondo lexicostatistical survey". In Adams, K., Lauck, L., Miedema, J., Welling, F., Stokhof, W., Flassy, D., Oguri, H., Collier, K., Gregerson, K., Phinnemore, T., Scorza, D., Davies, J., Comrie, B. and Abbott, S. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 22. A-63:313-338. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985. doi:10.15144/PL-A63.313




References



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.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Ethnologue
• Glottolog
• Lower Sepik languages
• Sepik–Ramu languages
• Ramu–Lower Sepik languages
• Sepik languages
• Tayap language
• Tabriak language
• Nor language
• Chambri language
• Sepik
• Language isolate