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May River Iwam, often simply referred to as Iwam, is a language of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.
| May River Iwam | |
|---|---|
| Region | East Sepik Province |
Native speakers | (3,000 cited 1998)[1] |
Sepik
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | iwm |
| Glottolog | iwam1256 |
| ELP | May River Iwam |
It is spoken in Iyomempwi (4.24117°S 141.89271°E), Mowi (4.294971°S 141.929199°E), and Premai villages of Tunap/Hunstein Rural LLG in East Sepik Province, and other villages on the May River.[1][2]
Vowels
In non-final positions, /u/ /o/, /i/, and /e/ are [ʊ] [ɔ], [ɪ], and [ɛ], respectively. /ə/ appears only in nonfinal syllables. When adjacent to nasal consonants, vowels are nasalized; nasalization may also occur when adjacent to word boundaries.[3]
Consonants
/p/ and /k/ are voiced fricatives ([β] and [ɣ]) respectively) when intervocalic and unreleased when final (/t/ is also unreleased when final). /ŋ/ is a nasal flap ([ɾ̃]) word-initially and between vowels. /s/ is [ts] initially and may otherwise be palatalized [sʲ].[3] Sequences of any consonant and /w/ are neutralized before /u/ where an offglide is always heard.
Phonotactics
Bilabial and velar consonants and /n/ may be followed by /w/ when initial. Other initial clusters include /pr/, /kr/, /hr/, /hw/, and /hn/ and final clusters are /w/ or /j/ followed by any consonant except for /h/ or /ŋ/.[3]
May River Iwam pronouns:[4]: 282
| sg | du | pl | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ka/ani | kərər | kərəm |
| 2 | ki | kor | kom |
| 3m | si | sor | səm |
| 3f | sa |
Like the Wogamus languages, May River Iwam has five noun classes:[4]
| class | semantic category | prefix | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| class 1 | male human referents | nu- (adult males); ru- (uninitiated or immature males) | yenkam nu-t man class.1-one ‘one man’ |
| class 2 | female human, children, or other animate referents | a(o)- | owi a-ois duck class.2-two ‘two ducks’ |
| class 3 | large objects | kwu- | ana kwu-(o)t hand class.3-one ‘a big hand’ |
| class 4 | small objects | ha- | ana ha-(o)t hand class.4-one ‘a small hand’ |
| class 5 | long objects | hwu- | ana hwu-(o)t hand class.5-one ‘a long hand’ |
As shown by the example above for ana ‘hand’, a noun can take on different classes depending on the physical characteristics being emphasized.
May river Iwam has four periodic tense suffixes: matutinal -yok, diurnal -harok, postmeridial -tep and nocturnal -wae.[5]
The following basic vocabulary words of Iwam are from Foley (2005)[6] and Laycock (1968),[7] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[8]
| gloss | Iwam |
|---|---|
| head | mu |
| ear | wun |
| eye | nu |
| nose | nomwos |
| tooth | piknu |
| tongue | kwane |
| leg | wərku; wɨrku |
| louse | ŋən; nɨn |
| dog | nwa |
| pig | hu |
| bird | owit |
| egg | yen |
| blood | ni |
| bone | keew; kew |
| skin | pəw |
| breast | muy |
| tree | pae(kap); paykap |
| man | kam; yen-kam |
| woman | wik |
| sun | pi |
| moon | pwan |
| water | op; o(p) |
| fire | pay |
| stone | siya |
| eat | (n)ai; (nd)ai |
| one | oe; ruk; su |
| two | ŋwis |
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