Pawaia language

Pawaia is spoken in:

• Chimbu Province: Karimui District
• Eastern Highlands Province: Lufa District and Okapa District, Lamari River
• Gulf Province: Baimuru Rural LLG, Purari River near Oroi[http://pg.geoview.info/oroi,1401043231n Oroi is next to Kaiau and is located in Central Province, Papua New Guinea.]

Although Pawaia has reflexes of proto-Trans–New Guinea vocabulary, Ross considers its inclusion questionable on available evidence. Usher classifies it instead with the Teberan languages. Noting insufficient evidence, Pawley and Hammarström (2018) leave it as unclassified rather than as part of Trans-New Guinea.{{cite book |last1=Pawley |first1=Andrew |last2=Hammarström |first2=Harald |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Trans New Guinea family |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=21–196 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}

Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for Pawaia to be classified as part of Trans-New Guinea, though they do note the following lexical resemblances between Pawaia and proto-Trans-New Guinea.

• emi ‘breast’ < *amu
• in ‘tree’ < *inda
• su ‘tooth’ < *(s,t)i(s,t)i

Pawaia is also tonal, contrasting high and low tone.

The following basic vocabulary words are from Macdonald (1973)Macdonald, G.E. "[http://dx.doi.org/10.15144/PL-C26.111 The Teberan Language Family]". In Franklin, K. editor, The linguistic situation in the Gulf District and adjacent areas, Papua New Guinea. C-26:111-148. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1973. {{doi|10.15144/PL-C26.111}} and Trefry (1969), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:{{Cite web |url=http://transnewguinea.org/language/pawaia |title=TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea |last=Greenhill |first=Simon |date=2016 |access-date=2020-11-05}}

:

• Trefry, David. 1969. A Comparative Study of Kuman and Pawaian. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

{{reflist}}

{{Malcolm Ross Pronouns}}

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, [https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/papuan-gulf/tua-river/pawaia Pawaia]

{{Papuan languages}}

{{language families}}

Category:Languages of Papua New Guinea

Category:Teberan–Pawaian languages