Piame language

{{Short description|Sepik language of Papua New Guinea}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Piame

| states = Papua New Guinea

| region = East Sepik Province

| ethnicity = Hewa

| speakers = Less than 100

| date = 1988

| ref = {{Infobox language/ref|{{cite book|title=Some language and sociolinguistic relationships in the Upper Sepik region of Papua New Guinea}}}}

| familycolor = Papuan

| fam1 = Sepik

| fam2 = Sepik Hill

| fam3 = Southwest

| iso3 = pin

| glotto = piam1243

| glottorefname = Piame

| altname = Biami

}}

Piame, or Biami, is a Sepik language, which in 1988 was spoken in the village of Piame in northwestern Papua New Guinea.{{Cite web |title=Some language and sociolinguistic relationships - ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1297882138 |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=www.proquest.com | id={{ProQuest|1297882138}} |language=en}}{{rp||page=249}}

Relationship to other languages

Piame is closely related to Niksek, with cognate percentages ranging from 44% to 53% for the different Niksek dialects.{{rp||page=249}}

Sociolinguistics

In 1988, it was spoken by less than a hundred people, in the single village of Piame.{{rp||page=249}} The village was primarily monolingual. Two or three men had begun to learn Tok Pisin, the lingua franca of Papua New Guinea.{{rp||page=254}}

The language is today described as moribund.{{Cite web |title=Glottolog 5.1 - Piame |url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/piam1243 |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=glottolog.org}}{{Cite web |date=2013-06-03 |title=Piame {{!}} Ethnologue |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pin/ |access-date=2025-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603190438/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pin/ |archive-date=3 June 2013 }}

Vocabulary

The table below is a sample of words in Piame:{{rp||page=261}}

class="wikitable"

|+

!Piame

!English

pasikofi

|afternoon

bawe

|arrow

mokuawo

|baby

mekia

|back

wɔřou

|cassowary

a yopakaři

|chin

yabi

|dog

peni

|ear

yelia kaia

|egg

wauwuo

|fat

aise

|father

mɔmiyaři məməni moku'awo

|girl

yelia kowane

|good

kouřinobo

|hair

nɔti

|hand

u'kwəti

|knee

misaři

|knife

mekwa

|leaf

yelia meisa

|long

məmini'nɔni

|man

ake/kɔřisib̵ab̵e

|many

ka'lami

|neck

ake/akutu

|new

akelmeisi

|old

mekwa

|one

a'kaifɔ/fɔ

|pig

nou

|rain

wamo

|rat

kařinei

|sand

yelia nɔpo

|short

fɔ'yəni

|tail

sawi

|taro

you'wei

|vine

akaipəsi

|wallaby

a'sei

|water

kařu

|yam

nɔifi

|yesterday

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Sepik languages}}

{{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}

Category:Sepik Hill languages

Category:Languages of East Sepik Province

{{papuan-lang-stub}}