Mawes language
Mawes | |
---|---|
Region | Papua: Sarmi Regency, Bonggo District - Mawes Dai, Mawes Mukti, and Mawes Wres villages to the west of the Buri River |
Native speakers | 850 (2006) |
Northwest Papuan?
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | mgk |
Glottolog | mawe1251 |
ELP | Mawes |
Mawes is a Papuan language of Indonesia.
Usher (2020) proposes that it may be related to the Kwerbic languages. Foley (2018) classifies Mawes as a language isolate, and so does Hammarström (2010).
Pronouns
Pronouns are:
sg pl 1 kidam inim 2 nam nɛm 3 ɛbɛ mia
Basic vocabulary
Basic vocabulary of Mawes listed in Foley (2018):
Mawes basic vocabulary gloss Mawes ‘bird’ ikinin ‘blood’ wɛrɛi ‘bone’ tuan ‘ear’ bɛr ‘eat’ nan ‘egg’ siwin ‘eye’ nonsum ‘fire’ kani ‘leg, foot’ yaʔ ‘louse’ sene ‘name’ dimanɛ ‘one’ mɛndakai ‘see’ nomo ‘sky’ kowan ‘stone’ fɛt ‘sun’ ɛsar ‘tooth’ wan ‘tree’ dengkin ‘two’ yakɛneu ‘water’ bo ‘woman’ yei
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
gloss Mawes head defar hair tere eye nonsom tooth wan leg ija dog wede pig was bird ikinin egg siwin blood werei bone tuan skin dukunen tree deŋkin man ke sun esar water bo fire kani stone feyt name dimane eat nano one mendakai two yakenew
Sentences
Of the few sentences that have been documented for Mawes, some example sentences are:: 497–8
ɛbɛ
3SG
marsya
yesterday
nomtak
come
‘He came yesterday.’
wɛdɛ
dog
ɛbɛ
3SG
ketes
bite
‘The dog bit him.’
ke-me
man-?
totoso
money
kida-wɛn
1SG-POSS
mamɛnta
father
fɛn
DAT/ALL
tamu(k)
give
‘That man gave money to my father.’
ɛbɛ-mɛ
3sg-?
dengkin
tree
nambuak
machete
kom
INSTR
sorna
cut
‘He is cutting wood with a machete.’
ke-me
man-?
sau
village
fɛn
DAT/ALL
banak
go
‘That man went to the village.’
ke-me
man-?
sau-er
village-ABL
nom
come
‘That man came from the village.’
ke-me
man-?
yei
woman
dete
COMIT
banak
go
‘That man went with his wife.’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
Further reading
- Wambaliau, Theresia. 2006. Survey Report on the Mawes Language in Papua, Indonesia. (in Indonesian). Unpublished manuscript. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
- Hammarström, Harald. 2010. The genetic position of the Mawes language. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Languages of Papua 2. Manokwari, Indonesia, 8–12 February 2010.