Ramu languages

Ramu
Geographic distribution:	New Guinea
Linguistic classification:	Ramu – Lower Sepik Ramu
Subdivisions:	Lower Ramu Tamolan Annaberg Mongol–Langam Arafundi

The Ramu languages are a family of some thirty languages of northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by John Z'graggen in 1971, and linked with the Sepik languages by Donald Laycock two years later. Malcolm Ross (2005) classifies them as one branch of a Ramu – Lower Sepik language family, and suggests that the Piawi languages may form part of the family. Z'graggen had included the Yuat languages, but that now seems doubtful. Ethnologue (2009) removes them, along with Mongol–Langam and Arafundi (which Ross accepts), and classifies them as independent families.

Classification

The small families listed below in boldface are clearly valid units. The first five, sometimes classified together as Lower Ramu, are relatable through lexical data, so their relationship is widely accepted.^[1] The other four traditional Ramu families have only been connected through their pronoun paradigms, and Ethnologue only accepts the inclusion of Tamolan and Annaberg. The addition of Piawi is tentative.

Ramu

Lower   Ramu  Ottilien family: Watam (shares plural morphology with Nor–Pondo), Gamei, Kaian, Bosman, Awar Misegian family: Giri, Sepen, Mikarew Keram (Grass) family: Banaro, Kambot, Aion, Adjora, Gorovu Ataitan family: Andarum, Igom, Tangu, Tanguat Tamolan family: Romkun, Breri, Kominimung, Igana, Akrukay, Itutang, Midsivindi Annaberg family: Rao, Anor, Aiome Mongol–Langam family (see)  ? Arafundi–   Piawi  Arafundi family: Andai (Meakambut), Nanubae, Tapei ? Piawi family (inclusion tentative)

Ethnologue (2009) lists Mongol–Langam, Arafundi, and Piawi as independent families. Their family tree shows Kambot (Ap Ma) not as a Keram language but as a third branch of Ramu – Lower Sepik; however, the comment that Adjora (Abu) is "most closely related to Banaro and Ap Ma" suggests that this may simply be one of the automated formatting errors that plagues Ethnologue's tables.

Pronouns

The pronouns reconstructed by Ross for Proto-Ramu are:

I	*aŋko, *ni	we two	*a-ŋk-a	we	*ai, *nai, *a-ni, *na-ni
thou	*un, *nu	you two	*o-ŋk-oa, *no-ŋk-oa	you	*ne, *u-ni, *nu-ni
s/he	*man	they two	*mani-ŋk ?	they	*mə, *nda, *manda

References

1. ^ [1]

• 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.