Amto–Musan languages

Amto–Musan
Samaia River
Geographic
distribution
Samaia River, Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classificationArai–Samaia or independent language family
  • Amto–Musan
Subdivisions
Glottologamto1249

Amto–Musan is a language family of two closely related but mutually unintelligible Papuan languages, Amto and Siawi, spoken along the Samaia River of Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea.

Languages

Foley (2018) and Usher (2020) agree that the family consists of two languages.

Amto–Musan / Samaia River family

External relationships

Amto–Musan was left unclassified by Ross (2005) (see Papuan languages#Ross classification) due to lack of data; Wurm (1975) had posited it as an independent family. The family has typological similarities with the Busa language isolate, but these do not appear to demonstrate a genetic relationship.

Timothy Usher links the Amto–Musan languages to their neighbors, the Arai languages and the Pyu language in as Arai–Samaia stock.

Foley (2018) classifies them separately as an independent language family. Foley also notes that due to heavy contact and trade with Left May languages, Amto–Musan languages have borrowed much cultural vocabulary from Left May.

Cognates

Amto-Musan family cognates listed by Foley (2018):

Amto-Musan family cognates
gloss Amto Musan
‘bad’ supuware pioware
‘bird’ ai ʔai
‘black’ towan tewane
‘breast’ ne ne
‘ear’ ye ʔe
‘eye’ mo mene
‘fire’ mari mari
‘leaf’ he sɛʔ
‘liver’ tei teʔ
‘louse’ nanu nanu
‘man’ kyu yɛnokono
‘mother’ ena inaʔ
‘nape’ tipiyari tibiare
‘older brother’ apɔ aboʔ
‘road’ mo mono
‘sago’ tawe
‘tongue’ həne hanɛ
‘tooth’ i ʔi
‘tree’ ami ameʔ
‘water’ wi wi

Possible cognates between the Amto-Musan and Left May families:

Possible Amto-Musan family
and Left May family cognates
gloss Amto Musan Ama Nimo Owiniga
‘breast’ ne ne nano nano
‘arm’ naino ina
‘louse’ nani nanu ani eni
‘tooth’ i ʔi i i
‘water’ wi wi iwa wi bi

Possible loanwords reflecting the close trade relationship between Amto-Musan and Left May speakers:

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Conrad & Dye (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

gloss Amto Siawi
head twæ nani
hair (twæ) iwɔ nanigi
ear ye
eye mo mene
nose ni Ǐimʌ
tooth i ʔi
tongue hæne; hʌne hanɛ
louse nanu nani
dog soː
pig ma kinʌdiʔ
bird ai ʔai
egg aiː iǏɔ
blood nʌkei hařʔ
bone hae hařʔ
skin ka ʔaoko
breast ne ne
tree amɩ ameʔ
man kyu yɛnokono
woman hama ʔeǏo
water wiː wi
fire maři maǏi
stone tipeki tʌbɛki
road, path mo mono
eat meːne pe
one ohu sʌmo
two kiyaA himolo

This page was last updated at 2022-01-20 11:43 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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