Yawa languages
Encyclopedia
The Yawa languages, or Yapen, are a small family of two closely related Papuan languages
, Yawa (or Yava)
and Saweru
, which are often considered to be divergent dialects of a single language (and thus a language isolate
). They are spoken on central Yapen Island and nearby islets, in Cenderawasih Bay
, Indonesian Papua
, which they share with the Austronesian Yapen languages
.
Yawa proper had 6000 speakers in 1987. Saweru has been variously reported to be partially intelligible with other dialects of Yawa and to be considered a dialect of Yawa by its speakers, and to be too divergent for intelligibility and to be perceived as a separate language. It is moribund, spoken by 150 people out of an ethnic group of 300.
in his Geelvink Bay proposal. However, the relationship would be a distant one at best, and Mark Donohue felt in 2001 that Yawa had not been shown to be related to any other language. Recently Malcolm Ross
made a tentative proposal that Yawa might be part of an Extended West Papuan
language phylum. The pronominal resemblances are most apparent when comparing proto-Yawa to the East Bird's Head language Meax
:
d~r, b~w, we~o, p~f are all common sound correspondences.
Ethnologue (2009) took this a step further, and placed Yawa within West Papuan
itself.
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.-The...
, Yawa (or Yava)
Yawa language
Yawa is the Papuan language of central Yapen Island in Geelvink Bay, Indonesia. Alternative names are Iau , Mantembu, Mora, Turu, and Yapanani....
and Saweru
Saweru language
Saweru closely related to Yawa of central Yapen Island in Geelvink Bay, Indonesia, of which it is sometimes considered a dialect. It is spoken on Serui Island just offshore....
, which are often considered to be divergent dialects of a single language (and thus a language isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
). They are spoken on central Yapen Island and nearby islets, in Cenderawasih Bay
Cenderawasih Bay
Cenderawasih Bay , also Teluk Sarera , formerly Geelvink Bay is a large bay in northern Province of Papua and West Papua, New Guinea, Indonesia, at . The Dutch name comes after a Dutch ship and family called Geelvinck...
, Indonesian Papua
Papua (Indonesian province)
Papua comprises most of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands. Its capital is Jayapura. It's the largest and easternmost province of Indonesia. The province originally covered the entire western half of New Guinea...
, which they share with the Austronesian Yapen languages
Yapen languages
The Yapen languages are the branch of Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken on Yapen Island and nearby isle of Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesian Papua. They share Yapen Ιsland with the Papuan Yawa languages.They are:*East: Kurudu, Wabo...
.
Yawa proper had 6000 speakers in 1987. Saweru has been variously reported to be partially intelligible with other dialects of Yawa and to be considered a dialect of Yawa by its speakers, and to be too divergent for intelligibility and to be perceived as a separate language. It is moribund, spoken by 150 people out of an ethnic group of 300.
Classification
C. L. Voorhoeve tentatively linked Yawa with the East Geelvink Bay languagesEast Geelvink Bay languages
The East Geelvink Bay or East Cenderawasih languages are a language family of a dozen Papuan languages along the eastern coast of Geelvink Bay in Indonesian Papua, which is also known as Sarera Bay or Cenderawasih....
in his Geelvink Bay proposal. However, the relationship would be a distant one at best, and Mark Donohue felt in 2001 that Yawa had not been shown to be related to any other language. Recently Malcolm Ross
Malcolm Ross
Malcolm David Ross is a linguist and professor at the Australian National University. He has published work on Austronesian and Papuan languages, historical linguistics, and language contact.-External links:**...
made a tentative proposal that Yawa might be part of an Extended West Papuan
Extended West Papuan
The Extended West Papuan language family is a tentative proposal in Malcolm Ross's classification of Papuan languages. It includes the West Papuan languages of the Indonesian island of Halmahera and the Bird's Head Peninsula of far western New Guinea; the Yawa language isolate on Yapen Island in...
language phylum. The pronominal resemblances are most apparent when comparing proto-Yawa to the East Bird's Head language Meax
Meax language
Meax is a Papuan language on the north coast of Papua, Indonesia....
:
| I | thou | s/he | you | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proto-Yawa | *rei | *uein | *wepi | *waya |
| Meax | didif | bua | ofa | iwa |
d~r, b~w, we~o, p~f are all common sound correspondences.
Ethnologue (2009) took this a step further, and placed Yawa within West Papuan
West Papuan languages
The West Papuan languages are a hypothetical language family of about two dozen Papuan languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula of far western New Guinea and the island of Halmahera, spoken by about 220 000 people in all....
itself.